Rozovian

Just as a reminder, take off the eval tag once you get an eval. That way, we'll know when you're looking for an evaluation of a new version.
Glad to read you're making progress. I'll try to catch this next time it's on eval, I don't want to spoil it until then.

"What do you think about the idea to let people post their work and give additional information, like what they wanted to achieve, what do they need feedback for, short description of their work or so?"
You mean we don't _let_ people do that already?
If someone wants some specific feedback, they're free to ask for that. I can add that to the How-to post. But I don't want to make it any more formal than necessary. If people just want to dump a link to track into a minimalistically titled thread, and see what response they, that's okay. If people want specific feedback on their drums humanization, frequency balance, arrangement, or whatever, they can just say so.  If they want to share what their plan was and what their own thoughts on the mix are, that's fine too. Freedom! But you're right in that it should be encouraged in the How-to post.
We're working on a post about tags and how to use them, too (to be added to the How-to thread). It's a related thing, and might help clear things up for some tracks, eg covers tagged as such vs. ocr-intended tracks.

This is the thread for questions, opinions, concerns, complaints, suggestions, and discussion about the Workshop and everything going on here. We're starting fresh with a new, empty thread so we don't have to edit the previous thread. For those interested, here's a link to the old one.
This thread will not be stickied/pinned to the top of the board. We're trying to avoid having too many stickied topics from now on. This thread will climb to the top of the regular threads when there's something going on, and will disappear down the list of threads when it's not being used. Links to it will be found in the pinned threads.

Meet the Evaluation Team!
The purpose of this thread is to give any would-be workshop denizen the ability to best utilize the staff here. In other words, here's what you need to know about each one of us! Each of us are here to help you grow as a musician and (hopefully) into a posted ReMixer. However, not all of us operate the same way, and we each have different backgrounds. Some of us are in different time zones, and we all have projects, lives, family, and music of our own to attend to. Nonetheless, the reason we're Evaluators is because we each have a passion for helping others improve.
Gario (Judge, not active)
Real name: Gregory Nourse
Location: Wilmington, California, USA
Occupation: Electrical Engineer
Preferred method of contact: Discord , PM
Also reachable by: Discord, FB
Five OSTs I recommend: Dragonseed, Megaman Soccer, Final Fantasy 8, Utopia (SNES), Saga 2/3 (Final Fantasy Legends, in USA)
About me: I have my degree in Music Theory and Composition from UNM (back in 2008... hard to believe it's been that long already), and as such I've actually had a lot of experience listening to all sorts of styles of music (both tonal and atonal). As such, one area I'm particularly keen on is arrangement, voice leading and orchestration of the track. As of 2008 I've done a lot of work on my own learning the ins and outs of production, so I can give some solid advice on that front, as well.
I'd like to be as diligent as possible on these boards, though unfortunately I've only had time to browse them actively once a week, roughly. If you send out a PM I'd be happy to direct some Mod Review justice your way, though - a friendly request often serves you well!
Rozovian (Not active; on vacation from evals)
Real name: Ad G
Location: Finland
Occupation: Please give me a job. I'm going crazy in this stupid economy.
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: email
Five OSTs I recommend: Seiken Densetsu 3, Halo 3 ODST, Super Metroid, Mirror's Edge, Battletoads & Double Dragon
About me: I complain about the compression in your mix, and I have a beard. I also wrote a remixing guide.
Wiesty
Real name: Dylan Wiest
Location: Canada
Occupation: Music educator, musician
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: Discord
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger (duh), Donkey Kong Country 2, Final Fantasy 7, Lost Odyssey, Link to the Past
About me: I'm a long time member of OcRemix but have just recently joined the staff here! I coordinate the OC Jazz Collective who recently put out their premiere album entitled "Chronology: A Jazz Tribute to Chrono Trigger". During the day I'm a band teacher and gigging musician. My instruments of choice include percussion and piano. 
--
ambient (yes, with a small "a") (Not active)
Real name: Alex Gventsadze
Location: Georgia
Occupation: Professional Services
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: TBD
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Streets of Rage, Streets of Rage 2, Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
About me: Far from a professional musician (though I have a bit of a background in classical piano and upright bass), my involvement in any kind of creative process associated with music is limited to what I do on OCR. I mainly focus on electronic music and could offer only limited input when it comes to other musical styles. I've been a part of the OCR community since the early 2000s.
Argle (Not active)
Real name: Adam Kirby
Location: Tinley Park, IL, USA
Occupation: Programmer analyst
Preferred method of contact: PM
Five OSTs I recommend: Chrono Trigger , King's Bounty: the Legend, Rayman, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Super Mario Galaxy
About me: just a dude who likes to make teh remixes. Been at the music thing for over a decade. I play violin and guitar but I consider that secondary to composing computer-based music. I try to write in a variety of genres to prevent myself from getting bored, and would like to think I can give feedback on pretty much any genre. Look forward to helping people out!
WillRock (Judge)(Not active)
Real name: William Harby
Location: UK
Occupation: Composer
Preferred method of contact: Skype (WillRock07), PM, Facebook
Also reachable by: AIM, IRC
Five OSTs I recommend: iunno
About me: Dunno. You guys can look me up here. Also work as a composer for edgebee studios. Got a degree in music tech. Etc.
Reason i'm posting here is because I don't frequent the boards, and i'm technically still a WS Mod. but I DO like to look and help out people with their tracks, particularly if they come to me in person. Its better to send me a direct message (AIM/IRC/Skype) rather than PM because otherwise I may think "i'll look later" and not get around to it, but contact me and i'll more than happily help out anyone who needs it. I wouldn't class myself as particularly great with a specific area of critique but i'm a good all rounder and can probably give a decent idea if something will pass the panel or not. Hit me up on Skype!
XPRTNovice
Real name: Joseph Zieja
Location: Northern Virginia (changes almost yearly)
Occupation: Voiceover Artist
Preferred method of contact: OCR PM at the moment
Also reachable by: Skype, mIRC sometimes, pigeon
OSTs I recommend: Xenogears, Persona 3
About Me: Relatively new to OCR (joined January 2012), but I've been a musician for over 20 years. My highlight seems to be the amount of instruments I play (at widely varying different skill levels of course), which include 4 saxophones, clarinet, guitar, mandolin, trumpet, french horn, flute, piano, and oud. I'm also a voiceover artist and fantasy/science fiction author on the side (hopefully some good news about my books coming in 2014).
I'm glad to be a part of the OCR community and now I'm thrilled to be a part of the staff as well. I look forward to growing with you all.
timaeus222
Real name: Truong-Son Nguyen
Location: Washington, USA
Occupation: Physical Chemistry PhD Student (til 2021), Chemistry Teaching Assistant
Preferred method of contact: OCR PM (timaeus222), or Discord (timaeus222)
Also reachable by: Skype (timaeus222), Twitter (@timaeus222), Facebook (timaeusonocr)
OSTs I recommend: Pokemon Super Mystery Dungeon, Mega Man Star Force series, Gunstar Heroes, Super Mario Galaxy
About Me: I'm a lover of music, chemistry, and math. I've played piano for about 8 years, and taken choir classes for about 6. I got my BS degree in Chemistry, and I enjoy helping students online (socratic.org) and at my university with science/math questions. I also sometimes make gameplay youtube videos (nowadays, iOS and GBA games). I specialize in sound design for dubstep, drum & bass, and EDM, although I am comfortable and open to writing in and giving feedback for many genres, ranging from orchestral, to atmospheric, to metal and dubstep. 
OCR has always been a welcoming community, and arguably they have been a large part in helping me grow into the person I am now---I'll definitely enjoy helping out around here!
Geoffrey Taucer (Not active)
Real name: Jeremy Waters
Location: Maryland, USA
Occupation: 
Preferred method of contact: PM
Also reachable by: Discord
OSTs I recommend: Trolls for MS DOS
About Me: Remixer and community member since roughly 2004. Self-taught musician, specializing in folk music and (to a lesser extent) rock. I play guitar, banjo, keyboard, irish whistle, and bouzouki.
Hemophiliac
Real name: Chris Roman
Location: Fontana, CA, USA
Occupation: Future Medical Coder
Preferred method of contact: Discord (Hemophiliac#6361) Join the OCR Discord server and tag me! We have a #workshop section there, and I can help in real time!
Also reachable by: OCR PM, Twitter (@onehemophiliac)
OSTs I recommend: A Link to the Past, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy 7, Saga Frontier, Everything by Yoko Shimomura, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night.
About Me: Been writing and arranging music for about 20 years now, also have a music degree.  Classically trained in voice and prefer to sing in groups (because blending and vocal harmony!)  Have some basic keyboard skills.  Really big on contrasts in music.

When you're ready to submit a remix to OC ReMix, but you're not sure if the remix fits the site's submission standards:
Add a link to the source (the original track(s) which was/were remixed) in the same post as the most recent update of the remix. YouTube is a good resource for sources. Change the prefix on the first post to Ready for Review. If you have any questions or special concerns, feel free to include them in the post as well. Post a new post in your thread so it's near the top of the board. This is important if you're changing the tags of a thread that's already a few weeks old; less so if the thread is already near the top of the board. Wait a week or two. If you don't get a response from an Evaluator by then, PM one or two of them. They're supposed to review your track within a few days. Sometimes it just takes a little longer. When you've received an evaluation, the Evaluator will either mark your thread as Work-in-Progress, indicating you need to keep working on it, or Complete, indicating that they think it's ready to submit. Keep in mind:
Don't use Ready for Review for remixes not intended to be submitted to OC ReMix. Don't use Ready for Review for remixes that you don't think are ready to be submitted. Don't use Ready for Review just because you've received no other feedback on your remix. Don't use Ready for Review on the same remix over and over again. The evaluation team is not a substitute for regular listeners and your own critical listening. Don't use Ready for Review on albums. There's a different process for releasing official OC ReMix albums. Read more here. The Evaluators are not judges. They're selected because their grasp of the submission standards is good enough to be an indicator of what the judges might say. They can still be wrong, and the judges aren't always unanimous either. A positive evaluation is not a guarantee of passing the judges' panel, nor is a negative evaluation a guarantee that the remix won't pass the panel.
Don't make any changes to the track while waiting for the evaluation. Evaluators want to listen to the version you think is ready for submission. If you have things to change, do it before asking for the evaluation, or possibly after the evaluation is made.
It's okay for other people to comment on/review a track marked for evaluation. Ready for Review just means that an Evaluator will also come and review it, not that they're the only ones who may.
Remixes that are Ready for Review
Workshop Discussion

This is the video game music remixing forum. Here you can get feedback on your remixes, and provide the same for others. Whether or not your remix is intended to be submitted to OC ReMix, you can post it here. 
Threads
One thread per remix, one remix per thread. Exception: albums, see below.
Don't make a new thread just for an update. We're okay with a new thread for a remix you're picking up again after many years since last update. If you can't find the old thread with search or other means, you can make a new thread.
Don't post too many threads at once. It feels like spam, which might make listeners ignore you.
Set the title of your thread with the name of the game. Information such as the song(s) remixed or the genre might also be of interest to listeners.
Use a thread prefix to let listeners know what state your remix is in. Use thread tags to make your work easier to find based on keywords.
If you're asking for general feedback on your music making, you may include several remixes in a thread (please include this in the thread title), but we recommend focusing on a single track at a time. Albums are an exception, of course.
When your remix is finished, and you want to submit it to OC ReMix, follow these instructions. You may also request an evaluation (previously "mod review") before submitting.
Releases
Individual tracks, music videos, and albums of video game remixes can be released here.
Albums
You can release your VGM remix albums here. The one-track-per-thread/one-thread-per-track policy obviously doesn't apply to albums.
If you're looking to submit an album to OC ReMix, read the relevant parts of the Project Guidelines and the Project Guide, or contact one of the Project Evaluators.
If you're already a posted OC ReMixer, or in the To Be Posted-queue, you can post in Community to promote albums you're involved in. That includes VGM, remix albums, and original music.
Hosting
Some online hosting services offer streamed playback of the audio uploaded. The problem is that these sometimes compress the sound quality, which might make the music sound worse than is actually in the file, and might mask some problems in the mix.
Instead, use a hosting service or web space that doesn't do this. Some of them have a streaming option. There are many free services for hosting your remixes, whether finished or works in progress. These are a few that we like.
Tindeck | Box | Dropbox | Google Drive | Soundcloud*
* Uses stream compression, but it's a music hosting site, and some users find the ability to timestamp comments useful.
Feedback
When posting a remix, consider if there's something in particular you want feedback on, and feel free to mention that in the post. You might also want to mention any particular purpose of the remix, such as whether you're looking to submit it to the site or not.
Just like you want feedback on your remix, other people want feedback on theirs. Let them know what you thought of their remix, what they did well, what they could improve on, and they might return the favor.
You can also get feedback by asking people on the OC ReMix works-in-progress irc channel: #ocrwip at irc.esper.net.
You can also just ask remixers, judges, workshop mods, and others by sending them a PM or contacting them by other means. Most people on the site are cool and approachable. We're all game music nerds anyway, aren't we?
Getting feedback
The Checklist
A feedback checklist was developed to cover common problems in remixes submitted to OC ReMix. Feel free to use this to enhance your feedback to others, or to critically listen to your own track. Check (typically with an X) the boxes that apply. Then delete the lines that don't apply, so it's easier to read.
Guides to remixing
Tutorials category | zircon's guide to getting started | Rozovian's remixing guide
Workshop Discussion

Metroid!
Some of the sound design is rather simple, intro lead, bass, and snare in particular. There's also more complex sounds, creating a disparity between them. Best example of this might be around 5 minutes in, with the bass being simple and the other things more complex.
The arrangement is cool, but feels a little stretched thin. Could be a minute or two shorter (says the guy who made an 8+ minutes track for the DKC3 album). Some really cool original touches in here. 4:36 brings in some really cool original writing. Then there are parts than seem more like filler, like 4:50-5:05. Something about the sound design around there brings to mind the more lush and wet Metroid Prime tracks.
I've got two ideas for you to try, if you're interested in some experiments that might help you improve the track and your remixing in general (make sure to do this on a copy of the remix so you don't lose what you've got so far). 1 - Redo the sound design as chiptune, to make things really simple, and work on the arrangement without being distracted by the sound design. You can also try all piano (except drums, obviously), or something else to help you get at the arrangement without distractions. 2 - Disable all the effects to get at the sounds themselves, and redo the simple/complex category sounds to make things more cohesive. Then redo the mix.
Cool stuff.

modreview/eval
Intro has me worried about the mixing. The bass drum is louder than it needs to be.
I have no problem hearing the Cyber Maze Core source here, but it took me a long time to hear any Dark Necrobat stuff. Once it comes in at 2:25, this feels more like a medley than a ReMix. Fortunately, the lead from Core is still there. The arrangement, overall, is on the conservative side of things, but I think it's in the green. The genre adaptation obviously does a lot to differentiate it from the original.
Sound design is an interesting blend of jazz with the drums and bass, and retro synth stuff. It's a cool combination, although might be a bit too aggressive. Not terribly so, but they strike me as a bit of an odd choice. There are parts where that works really well (eg 2:00), and others where they don't work nearly that well (0:20, 2:35). It's often a question of what the arrangement does at the time.
Overall, the production is good enough. I'm a little torn on some of the sound design choices, but there are no dealbreakers. That one chip-arp-y lead is sometimes too loud, as are the drums (though with the choice of samples, lowering the drum levels too much would make them sound silly). Maybe the other stuff should be louder instead? The synth stuff sounds a bit too raw and exposed, but I can't tell if it's a problem or a style.
I would complain about weird glitches in the background around 2:00, but once I realized those were intentional, it's no longer a complain. 1:46-2:15. Really cool. Glitchy ending. Cool. I would otherwise complain about the note the track ends on, but as that's not actually where it ends, it's fine.
There are improvements to be made, but it's in a rather good state right now. Nice work. Do consider timaeus' points about the lead getting old and stuff.

modreview/eval
Intro has me worried about the mixing. The bass drum is louder than it needs to be.
I have no problem hearing the Cyber Maze Core source here, but it took me a long time to hear any Dark Necrobat stuff. Once it comes in at 2:25, this feels more like a medley than a ReMix. Fortunately, the lead from Core is still there. The arrangement, overall, is on the conservative side of things, but I think it's in the green. The genre adaptation obviously does a lot to differentiate it from the original.
Sound design is an interesting blend of jazz with the drums and bass, and retro synth stuff. It's a cool combination, although might be a bit too aggressive. Not terribly so, but they strike me as a bit of an odd choice. There are parts where that works really well (eg 2:00), and others where they don't work nearly that well (0:20, 2:35). It's often a question of what the arrangement does at the time.
Overall, the production is good enough. I'm a little torn on some of the sound design choices, but there are no dealbreakers. That one chip-arp-y lead is sometimes too loud, as are the drums (though with the choice of samples, lowering the drum levels too much would make them sound silly). Maybe the other stuff should be louder instead? The synth stuff sounds a bit too raw and exposed, but I can't tell if it's a problem or a style.
I would complain about weird glitches in the background around 2:00, but once I realized those were intentional, it's no longer a complain. 1:46-2:15. Really cool. Glitchy ending. Cool. I would otherwise complain about the note the track ends on, but as that's not actually where it ends, it's fine.
There are improvements to be made, but it's in a rather good state right now. Nice work. Do consider timaeus' points about the lead getting old and stuff.

I know this is a design question, so it's more of a "feature" than a bug/issue, but...
Could we please not have 600 pixels of non-content before the actual content of a forum? My laptop has 800 pixels of vertical resolution. The browser and OS eat up 110 of those, so there's not a lot of room for non-content. I'd rather not have to scroll on every page to get to the stuff I clicked a link to get to. I don't know what Invision were thinking, but this design is bloated and apparently made for HDTVs standing on their sides, and I hope it can be customized into something more compact.
I've realized reddit's design is actually really good. I thought it looked cheap and dated when I joined. The noncontent on the front page is about 100 pixels, and then the posts start. It could be fancier, but it can't really be much better in terms of efficiency. 

modreview/eval:
 
Starts off very cool. I've good high hopes for this track.
  The lows are a bit too loud to be balanced. By comparison, the rest of the track is a little quiet, and trying to up the levels have left the track overcompressed. I can hear the compressor pushing down the other sound to make room for the low stuff.   The right-hand electric piano writing is great. The left not so much. It's an interesting juxtaposition, jazzy epiano and brutal synths. I like the concept, and the variety of synth stuff in here (chip arp!). But the execution leans rather heavily on the synth side of things, making the epiano stand out as a little out of place. Emphasizing it in the mix might help. Emphasizing the juxtaposition might be good for the arrangement overall, too. Right now, the track rarely goes full-on jazz, but certainly goes full-on synthtastic.   I can hear the source through most of the track. Source version, original writing on source chords, source version... It's not the most elaborate arrangement, but it doesn't have to be. Most other iterations of that melody are rather conservative, but I think my favorite take on the source is around 2:05, as it dares to take liberties with the melody without sounding forced. The intro did something like that too. Otherwise, you're straddling the line between verbatim and forced deviation.   It's not easy to figure out what to do with a melody. As a piece of advice for future remixes, dare to mess with the chords and rhythms, since that'll lead you to have to adapt the melody as well. Timaeus talked about this, too. You generally want the melody to be recognizable, but at the same time do something new and interesting. That's a very difficult balance to strike. Some of your deviations from the melody do this well, others not quite as well.   I think this is a pass, given some minor mixing changes to get the lows under control. You could also fiddle with the arrangement some, to emphasize the jazz elements of it. Could.   Nice track.

Moody intro. Some of those sounds are a bit too shrill. The mix itself is mostly fine. My forte isn't orchestral mixes, but from what I can tell, the mix is works well. It's dynamic, possibly a little on the soft side in terms of levels. No instrument stands out as being overly loud or buried behind everything else. The only thing I'd look into, mix-wise, is the drums. They don't seem to belong. It might be the wrong kit, it might be the type or amount of reverb. See what you can do about that.
  Most of the strings seems to be the same articulation, which hurts the realism a lot. The brass melody lags behind, and as a lead, it needs to be more expressive. The piano is mechanical. Overall, the performance aspect of the remix is lacking or weak.   The arrangement is nice and dynamic. The ending might be a little too much of a repeat of previous iterations of the same part of source, and not enough end-y. The Pachelbel part, from 2:27, the simplistic piano writing there doesn't quite fit an orchestral piece of this type, imo. I know what you're trying to do there, since it's in the post, but I wouldn't have figured it out without the post, ergo it doesn't work. It comes off as lazy, repetitive writing. A different arrangement could build it more seamlessly into the structure of the track. More expression in the instrumentation, more of a performance (especially to the leads) might make it work. Currently, I think it does not.   Get rid of the shrill stuff in the intro, see what you can do about the drums, and improve the sense of performance to the orchestral stuff. The you'll have a rather good track. Nice work so far.

The Guidelines post is a big, intimidating mess for new users, and could probably be improved. A less formal "how do I review?" post might be more welcoming, and it could feature a checklist-like list of things you can say comment on, either as topics (creativity, sound quality...) and/or as a set or questions (did it remind you of anything, did it sound professional, would you dance to it) could make it easier for people who don't know what to say to say something. "Reviewing resources" might also work, with loads and loads of questions and checklists and ratings suggestions and things.
 
I agree about Avaris' point about community in particular. I've got some computer/time/priorities/music issues right now, but I'd like to get more community going in the workshop once I've sorted some other stuff out. If someone has the drive to do the same in reviews, that'd be awesome. Just not sure how that'd work, practically, since the workshop has plenty of places to talk about stuff, while reviews are more focused on... well, reviews. A set of subforums is an option, a subforum with subcommunity threads is an option, and gathering the community off-site is also an option (but maybe not the best for increasing forum activity).
 
I think one of the problems I have with reviewing is that the step from iTunes to the site is big. Can't check right now, but there should be a link conveniently from the tags straight to the song's page on ocr. If there isn't, there should be. If there is, it could be featured on the site as a way to more conveniently go from listening to reviewing. Searching by remix number (and consolidating search results from all search modes) would probably help, too, since it's currently a point and a click and a lot more letters to type to get from listening to reviewing that particular remix. Lowering the threshold by making the move from listening to reviewing faster and  more convenient should result in more reviews, assuming people got informed about it. That's what the front page is for, right?

Bored, had time; thread so far, summarized:
 
Problems/causes/observations:
  Will: you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site.   BS: William Harby, who has not reviewed a mix in months.    ACO: OCR seems super dead in general compared to when I first came here a few years back.    ACO: I notice even in the workshop, it's not uncommon now for mixes to get over a hundred views but absolutely no response.   timaeus222: Maybe it's the idea that the 'classic' ReMixers are in high demand for moar moar moar STUFF, and people want stuff from Sixto, zircon, etc.   timaeus222: Maybe with the newer ReMixers coming in, people don't know what to expect because the person's brand new or rather new.   timaeus: Maybe it's because there have been ReMixes from "new" games that people aren't as familiar with, like Guild Wars 2, Beyond: Two Souls, and Fittest.   timaeus: Maybe people are more busy these days; I know I'm really busy these days.   Will: Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it.   Will:  I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either.    Will: Lack of new members?   Garpocalypse: A significant part of OCR is the nostalgia factor. [...]  But the nostalgia wears off quickly when you have to live it everyday.  Psychologists call the decrease in response to a stimuli over time "habituation"   ACO: Lots of the newer games don't have music that is as simple and melodic as the older ones, so it's tough to remix or when remixes of it pop up on the site   timaeus222:  it looks to me like there's a lack of new members. [...] statistically, less people are joining the OCR forums per year, at least since 2010. :/   pu_freak:  I have much less time than a few years ago. When I look at the active people at the forums [...], I have a feeling that the average age is higher than when I first joined these forums   pu_freak: YouTube and Facebook. [...] I listen to the ones from there. That means I never visit the OCR homepage anymore   BS: it might be hard for a site that takes 6 months to a year for judgements to maintain an active member base.   BS: it's time that we get replaced with the new generation of remixers, but it's harder than ever for them to actually be a part of OCR   Patrick Burns: I think there are a lot more avenues to find and share nostalgia these days   Patrick Burns: our arrangements don't add nearly as much in the post-redbook audio era. [...] Appreciating arrangements of already well-produced material requires a listener who's much more fixated on the music than the average listener, imo.   Patrick Burns: We've just got so many other options to fulfill our music/digital/social/creative needs these days.   SystemsReady: Holy shit, it takes 6 months to a year for remixes to be judged now? [...] that does make me FAR less inclined to submit anything.   djp: I sense some defeatism, here, and I can see where it might stem from, but this is when we need people stepping up, not stepping back   Skryp: why are the number of reviews relevant?  Or even why are reviews themselves relevant?   Skryp: The forums themselves have gotten very slow, very boring, very dead and dying, and so the question should be "How do you suggest bring the overall forum activity back up again?".   Skryp: I don't think asking or having one person try and lead a march in improving reviews will have any long lasting effects around here.   k-wix: Don't have as many personal connections as i used to on the site.   k-wix: If you make it onto the site, the mix is probably awesome and worth listening to, so I don't feel like feedback is needed at that point.    Bowlerhat: it's actually really important to see as much reviews as possible to your remix [...] because it can be really motivational to see people like your music.   Garpocalypse: the environment where students and working professionals were nearly reduced to tears [...] I was initially attracted to OCR because it got me away from that into a more stress free environment.  Now, with all of this music out there, it's no longer a similar minded group of people who care enough about their art to want to help each other [...] and instead it's a lot of people who all want praise for their work [...] people should be encouraged more to speak their minds on the forums here as long as it has a constructive purpose to make the remix better.   Garpocalypse: The length of time it takes for a person to get judged and posted is an issue    Garpocalypse: I jumped if someone I knew such as Brandon Strader, Willrock, Darkesword, Avaris, Gario or other posted remixers whose work I enjoyed took time to comment on mine. Even if the comments were harsh they were much easier to take because I was familiar with who they were beyond their name just showing up in the forums.  Now we are at a time when most of the remixers from earlier days of OCR have all moved on   Garpocalypse: the panel is separating itself too much from the community it once created and it's having detrimental effects.    BS: I could comment more in workshop, [...] people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more   The Damned: sarcasm   Rozo: Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posted, [...] it inspired us.   Rozo: I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there.    Rozo: I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. [...] Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place   Rozo:  I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth   Rozo: Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall.   zircon: a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be.   zircon: What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music.   Best Dude55: I don't feel I have enough experience to where I could give any helpful constructive feedback.   Best Dude55: Also as a new member I can agree with others that the time it takes for submissions to reach the panel also kind of deters me from being more active.    Jorito: I grew up with 8 bit home computers and a PSX, and that means a lot of the newer games don't mean anything to me. That also means I typically won't review and comment.   Jorito: I don't really care about the number of reviews (of my own tracks). I'd to like to see a more active community here, but I'm not convinced focusing on the number of reviews is the way to get there.   CelestialSonata: Looking at everyone's post count is like looking at an XP bar.  It's hard to tell myself that my critique or advice will be worth anything compared to someone whose posts are in the thousands (high XP).  In my mind, how can I give advice if I don't have any arrangements published?   --   Suggestions:   pu_freak: copy the write-up to YouTube as the first comment?   djp: We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X   djp: We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site   djp:  We thus allow content creation & promotion on two tracks - the instant gratification, "look what I made" track for anything posted on the workshop AND the featured, canonized track for accepted mixes   djp: We automate the submissions process via the forums   djp: All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating   djp: We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members    djp: every review helps!   Will: All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear.    k-wix: When the song gets posted, it could be posted with all of the information that the judges talked about, might spark some conversation and debate. Would be great to actively discuss the track WITH the judges.   k-wix: Featured Comments [...] Could have its own section on the main page to encourage people to actively comment and get featured.   Bowlerhat:  I've never left a review myself [...] I think that after reading this topic I just might start doing it.   The Orichalcon: Is there a way to integrate comments on remixes posted to Youtube into the equivalent comment thread here? [...] Now the comments are split up amongst different media, thinning out the numbers.   Jorito: Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site.   Txai: I think the basic core of solving this is lifting listeners' tastes and opinions.    Txai:  I wonder if every poster could include their top 10 favourite ReMixes in their profile page. This was a feature in VGMix and OLR, too. And OLR turned into a barren ghost town after many user listening features were gone.   Rozo: We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, [...] maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.   Rozo: Just start reviewing.   Rozo: I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes.   Rozo: I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, [...] That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.   Rozo: the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads   Rozo: We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month.   Rozo: We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here.   Rozo: We could raise ocr's profile on reddit.   timaeus222: Another judge tryout to get more on the panel?   timaeus222: Tell your friends about OCR   Jorito: embracing all these platforms and combining them in stead of trying to force the audience (back) to the forums. The community is probably still there, just more scattered and, in today's society, also more fleeting.   evktalo: I wonder if reviews could be [...] not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. [...] Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments.   evktalo: I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel)   evktalo: if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right?

Logic's orchestral stuff is, like most DAW's, crap. It's not what they do. Not specifically, anyway. For good orchestral mixes, you'd want an orchestral sample library (or several), and those are costly. They are compatible with Logic and other DAWs, though, so that shouldn't be an issue. You can make enjoyable orchestral stuff in what comes with Logic, sure, but I don't think it'll be the huge improvment in quality that you seem to be looking for. That said, upgrading from GB to Logic, or any more powerful DAW, you should see plenty of improvements in your output.
 
I've used GB and moved to Logic, and I'm not sure I recommend it. Logic is a good DAW, but Apple's machines are expensive so I think a cross-platform option would be better. Automation is a bit clunky in Logic, it lacks some convenient features for quantization and other stuff, but overall it's a good DAW, especially for that price.
 
Because Logic can load GB's project files, and you probably want to continue working on your old songs with all of your new tools, and the price isn't that big, I think it's a good option. I used it for years before having any issues with it, and even then it still does the job well.

For those wondering about progress... we're inching on. I've been writing writeups/track notes, and will probably do the same for artists, just so we've got something to put on the website before trying to down every remixer for their thoughts and bios and stuff.
 
Also, don't pay Meteo. I think he works better when he's starving.

Updated. Not the huge amazing revision I might have wanted to do, and I probably haven't covered everyone's crits just yet, but it's a sign of life and a fancy new format for the guide, too. If it works.
 
Or to put it differently:
 
We're back.

For those wondering about progress... we're inching on. I've been writing writeups/track notes, and will probably do the same for artists, just so we've got something to put on the website before trying to down every remixer for their thoughts and bios and stuff.
 
Also, don't pay Meteo. I think he works better when he's starving.

Bored, had time; thread so far, summarized:
 
Problems/causes/observations:
  Will: you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site.   BS: William Harby, who has not reviewed a mix in months.    ACO: OCR seems super dead in general compared to when I first came here a few years back.    ACO: I notice even in the workshop, it's not uncommon now for mixes to get over a hundred views but absolutely no response.   timaeus222: Maybe it's the idea that the 'classic' ReMixers are in high demand for moar moar moar STUFF, and people want stuff from Sixto, zircon, etc.   timaeus222: Maybe with the newer ReMixers coming in, people don't know what to expect because the person's brand new or rather new.   timaeus: Maybe it's because there have been ReMixes from "new" games that people aren't as familiar with, like Guild Wars 2, Beyond: Two Souls, and Fittest.   timaeus: Maybe people are more busy these days; I know I'm really busy these days.   Will: Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it.   Will:  I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either.    Will: Lack of new members?   Garpocalypse: A significant part of OCR is the nostalgia factor. [...]  But the nostalgia wears off quickly when you have to live it everyday.  Psychologists call the decrease in response to a stimuli over time "habituation"   ACO: Lots of the newer games don't have music that is as simple and melodic as the older ones, so it's tough to remix or when remixes of it pop up on the site   timaeus222:  it looks to me like there's a lack of new members. [...] statistically, less people are joining the OCR forums per year, at least since 2010. :/   pu_freak:  I have much less time than a few years ago. When I look at the active people at the forums [...], I have a feeling that the average age is higher than when I first joined these forums   pu_freak: YouTube and Facebook. [...] I listen to the ones from there. That means I never visit the OCR homepage anymore   BS: it might be hard for a site that takes 6 months to a year for judgements to maintain an active member base.   BS: it's time that we get replaced with the new generation of remixers, but it's harder than ever for them to actually be a part of OCR   Patrick Burns: I think there are a lot more avenues to find and share nostalgia these days   Patrick Burns: our arrangements don't add nearly as much in the post-redbook audio era. [...] Appreciating arrangements of already well-produced material requires a listener who's much more fixated on the music than the average listener, imo.   Patrick Burns: We've just got so many other options to fulfill our music/digital/social/creative needs these days.   SystemsReady: Holy shit, it takes 6 months to a year for remixes to be judged now? [...] that does make me FAR less inclined to submit anything.   djp: I sense some defeatism, here, and I can see where it might stem from, but this is when we need people stepping up, not stepping back   Skryp: why are the number of reviews relevant?  Or even why are reviews themselves relevant?   Skryp: The forums themselves have gotten very slow, very boring, very dead and dying, and so the question should be "How do you suggest bring the overall forum activity back up again?".   Skryp: I don't think asking or having one person try and lead a march in improving reviews will have any long lasting effects around here.   k-wix: Don't have as many personal connections as i used to on the site.   k-wix: If you make it onto the site, the mix is probably awesome and worth listening to, so I don't feel like feedback is needed at that point.    Bowlerhat: it's actually really important to see as much reviews as possible to your remix [...] because it can be really motivational to see people like your music.   Garpocalypse: the environment where students and working professionals were nearly reduced to tears [...] I was initially attracted to OCR because it got me away from that into a more stress free environment.  Now, with all of this music out there, it's no longer a similar minded group of people who care enough about their art to want to help each other [...] and instead it's a lot of people who all want praise for their work [...] people should be encouraged more to speak their minds on the forums here as long as it has a constructive purpose to make the remix better.   Garpocalypse: The length of time it takes for a person to get judged and posted is an issue    Garpocalypse: I jumped if someone I knew such as Brandon Strader, Willrock, Darkesword, Avaris, Gario or other posted remixers whose work I enjoyed took time to comment on mine. Even if the comments were harsh they were much easier to take because I was familiar with who they were beyond their name just showing up in the forums.  Now we are at a time when most of the remixers from earlier days of OCR have all moved on   Garpocalypse: the panel is separating itself too much from the community it once created and it's having detrimental effects.    BS: I could comment more in workshop, [...] people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more   The Damned: sarcasm   Rozo: Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posted, [...] it inspired us.   Rozo: I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there.    Rozo: I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. [...] Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place   Rozo:  I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth   Rozo: Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall.   zircon: a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be.   zircon: What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music.   Best Dude55: I don't feel I have enough experience to where I could give any helpful constructive feedback.   Best Dude55: Also as a new member I can agree with others that the time it takes for submissions to reach the panel also kind of deters me from being more active.    Jorito: I grew up with 8 bit home computers and a PSX, and that means a lot of the newer games don't mean anything to me. That also means I typically won't review and comment.   Jorito: I don't really care about the number of reviews (of my own tracks). I'd to like to see a more active community here, but I'm not convinced focusing on the number of reviews is the way to get there.   CelestialSonata: Looking at everyone's post count is like looking at an XP bar.  It's hard to tell myself that my critique or advice will be worth anything compared to someone whose posts are in the thousands (high XP).  In my mind, how can I give advice if I don't have any arrangements published?   --   Suggestions:   pu_freak: copy the write-up to YouTube as the first comment?   djp: We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X   djp: We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site   djp:  We thus allow content creation & promotion on two tracks - the instant gratification, "look what I made" track for anything posted on the workshop AND the featured, canonized track for accepted mixes   djp: We automate the submissions process via the forums   djp: All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating   djp: We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members    djp: every review helps!   Will: All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear.    k-wix: When the song gets posted, it could be posted with all of the information that the judges talked about, might spark some conversation and debate. Would be great to actively discuss the track WITH the judges.   k-wix: Featured Comments [...] Could have its own section on the main page to encourage people to actively comment and get featured.   Bowlerhat:  I've never left a review myself [...] I think that after reading this topic I just might start doing it.   The Orichalcon: Is there a way to integrate comments on remixes posted to Youtube into the equivalent comment thread here? [...] Now the comments are split up amongst different media, thinning out the numbers.   Jorito: Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site.   Txai: I think the basic core of solving this is lifting listeners' tastes and opinions.    Txai:  I wonder if every poster could include their top 10 favourite ReMixes in their profile page. This was a feature in VGMix and OLR, too. And OLR turned into a barren ghost town after many user listening features were gone.   Rozo: We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, [...] maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.   Rozo: Just start reviewing.   Rozo: I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes.   Rozo: I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, [...] That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.   Rozo: the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads   Rozo: We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month.   Rozo: We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here.   Rozo: We could raise ocr's profile on reddit.   timaeus222: Another judge tryout to get more on the panel?   timaeus222: Tell your friends about OCR   Jorito: embracing all these platforms and combining them in stead of trying to force the audience (back) to the forums. The community is probably still there, just more scattered and, in today's society, also more fleeting.   evktalo: I wonder if reviews could be [...] not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. [...] Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments.   evktalo: I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel)   evktalo: if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right?

Bored, had time; thread so far, summarized:
 
Problems/causes/observations:
  Will: you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site.   BS: William Harby, who has not reviewed a mix in months.    ACO: OCR seems super dead in general compared to when I first came here a few years back.    ACO: I notice even in the workshop, it's not uncommon now for mixes to get over a hundred views but absolutely no response.   timaeus222: Maybe it's the idea that the 'classic' ReMixers are in high demand for moar moar moar STUFF, and people want stuff from Sixto, zircon, etc.   timaeus222: Maybe with the newer ReMixers coming in, people don't know what to expect because the person's brand new or rather new.   timaeus: Maybe it's because there have been ReMixes from "new" games that people aren't as familiar with, like Guild Wars 2, Beyond: Two Souls, and Fittest.   timaeus: Maybe people are more busy these days; I know I'm really busy these days.   Will: Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it.   Will:  I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either.    Will: Lack of new members?   Garpocalypse: A significant part of OCR is the nostalgia factor. [...]  But the nostalgia wears off quickly when you have to live it everyday.  Psychologists call the decrease in response to a stimuli over time "habituation"   ACO: Lots of the newer games don't have music that is as simple and melodic as the older ones, so it's tough to remix or when remixes of it pop up on the site   timaeus222:  it looks to me like there's a lack of new members. [...] statistically, less people are joining the OCR forums per year, at least since 2010. :/   pu_freak:  I have much less time than a few years ago. When I look at the active people at the forums [...], I have a feeling that the average age is higher than when I first joined these forums   pu_freak: YouTube and Facebook. [...] I listen to the ones from there. That means I never visit the OCR homepage anymore   BS: it might be hard for a site that takes 6 months to a year for judgements to maintain an active member base.   BS: it's time that we get replaced with the new generation of remixers, but it's harder than ever for them to actually be a part of OCR   Patrick Burns: I think there are a lot more avenues to find and share nostalgia these days   Patrick Burns: our arrangements don't add nearly as much in the post-redbook audio era. [...] Appreciating arrangements of already well-produced material requires a listener who's much more fixated on the music than the average listener, imo.   Patrick Burns: We've just got so many other options to fulfill our music/digital/social/creative needs these days.   SystemsReady: Holy shit, it takes 6 months to a year for remixes to be judged now? [...] that does make me FAR less inclined to submit anything.   djp: I sense some defeatism, here, and I can see where it might stem from, but this is when we need people stepping up, not stepping back   Skryp: why are the number of reviews relevant?  Or even why are reviews themselves relevant?   Skryp: The forums themselves have gotten very slow, very boring, very dead and dying, and so the question should be "How do you suggest bring the overall forum activity back up again?".   Skryp: I don't think asking or having one person try and lead a march in improving reviews will have any long lasting effects around here.   k-wix: Don't have as many personal connections as i used to on the site.   k-wix: If you make it onto the site, the mix is probably awesome and worth listening to, so I don't feel like feedback is needed at that point.    Bowlerhat: it's actually really important to see as much reviews as possible to your remix [...] because it can be really motivational to see people like your music.   Garpocalypse: the environment where students and working professionals were nearly reduced to tears [...] I was initially attracted to OCR because it got me away from that into a more stress free environment.  Now, with all of this music out there, it's no longer a similar minded group of people who care enough about their art to want to help each other [...] and instead it's a lot of people who all want praise for their work [...] people should be encouraged more to speak their minds on the forums here as long as it has a constructive purpose to make the remix better.   Garpocalypse: The length of time it takes for a person to get judged and posted is an issue    Garpocalypse: I jumped if someone I knew such as Brandon Strader, Willrock, Darkesword, Avaris, Gario or other posted remixers whose work I enjoyed took time to comment on mine. Even if the comments were harsh they were much easier to take because I was familiar with who they were beyond their name just showing up in the forums.  Now we are at a time when most of the remixers from earlier days of OCR have all moved on   Garpocalypse: the panel is separating itself too much from the community it once created and it's having detrimental effects.    BS: I could comment more in workshop, [...] people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more   The Damned: sarcasm   Rozo: Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posted, [...] it inspired us.   Rozo: I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there.    Rozo: I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. [...] Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place   Rozo:  I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth   Rozo: Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall.   zircon: a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be.   zircon: What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music.   Best Dude55: I don't feel I have enough experience to where I could give any helpful constructive feedback.   Best Dude55: Also as a new member I can agree with others that the time it takes for submissions to reach the panel also kind of deters me from being more active.    Jorito: I grew up with 8 bit home computers and a PSX, and that means a lot of the newer games don't mean anything to me. That also means I typically won't review and comment.   Jorito: I don't really care about the number of reviews (of my own tracks). I'd to like to see a more active community here, but I'm not convinced focusing on the number of reviews is the way to get there.   CelestialSonata: Looking at everyone's post count is like looking at an XP bar.  It's hard to tell myself that my critique or advice will be worth anything compared to someone whose posts are in the thousands (high XP).  In my mind, how can I give advice if I don't have any arrangements published?   --   Suggestions:   pu_freak: copy the write-up to YouTube as the first comment?   djp: We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X   djp: We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site   djp:  We thus allow content creation & promotion on two tracks - the instant gratification, "look what I made" track for anything posted on the workshop AND the featured, canonized track for accepted mixes   djp: We automate the submissions process via the forums   djp: All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating   djp: We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members    djp: every review helps!   Will: All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear.    k-wix: When the song gets posted, it could be posted with all of the information that the judges talked about, might spark some conversation and debate. Would be great to actively discuss the track WITH the judges.   k-wix: Featured Comments [...] Could have its own section on the main page to encourage people to actively comment and get featured.   Bowlerhat:  I've never left a review myself [...] I think that after reading this topic I just might start doing it.   The Orichalcon: Is there a way to integrate comments on remixes posted to Youtube into the equivalent comment thread here? [...] Now the comments are split up amongst different media, thinning out the numbers.   Jorito: Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site.   Txai: I think the basic core of solving this is lifting listeners' tastes and opinions.    Txai:  I wonder if every poster could include their top 10 favourite ReMixes in their profile page. This was a feature in VGMix and OLR, too. And OLR turned into a barren ghost town after many user listening features were gone.   Rozo: We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, [...] maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.   Rozo: Just start reviewing.   Rozo: I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes.   Rozo: I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, [...] That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.   Rozo: the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads   Rozo: We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month.   Rozo: We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here.   Rozo: We could raise ocr's profile on reddit.   timaeus222: Another judge tryout to get more on the panel?   timaeus222: Tell your friends about OCR   Jorito: embracing all these platforms and combining them in stead of trying to force the audience (back) to the forums. The community is probably still there, just more scattered and, in today's society, also more fleeting.   evktalo: I wonder if reviews could be [...] not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. [...] Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments.   evktalo: I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel)   evktalo: if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right?

I have to comment on this now that I got namedropped. THANKS WILL. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
 
I think it's all about pace. Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posed, whether on a wip, on a posted remix, or in the community overall, people saw that these big names weren't celebrities in their ivory towers, but regular forum folks like us lowly unposted wannabes. And it inspired us.
 
The wip board specifically became a place for me to help others get past the hurdles I had gotten past, and in the process develop a more critical ear and improve my own work. So the place became important to me. Still is, but running the sd3 project has eaten a lot of the enthusiasm over the years, so I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. I'm hoping I can make a comeback and fill a couple of pages with predominantly "last post by Rozovian".
 
I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. There's evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active and do a great job at giving people feedback. There's the whole mod review thing. But I think we're missing the community we had back then. Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place, and they don't show on the forum, so forumites don't engage with them, Facebook folks don't engage with Soundcloud comments, and the whole thing gets spread too thin. I like Soundcloud. But I don't like their comments system, specifically because it draws the comments away from the thread on the wip board.
 
On that note, back to reviews. pu_freak's completely right about how remixes appear on social media and get a lot of their responses from there instead of in reviews. That's a big part of it. I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth, no matter where that comment would end up.
 
We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.
 
Will had questions for us.
 
1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
 
Back when, it was that I spent so much time posting on wips. Then it was that I didn't have time or energy for it. Now it's that it's not a habit for me to hang out here. I drop by to check for new things to mod review, but that's about it. I don't think I was ever the one reviewing the new mixposts. Rather, I'd make playlists, listen, and comment on the ones I really liked. Which reminds me, I need to review April Rain, if I haven't already, because it's spectacular.
 
What just happened to the formatting?
 
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
 
Just start reviewing. Find someone to agree or disagree with, and create a discussion about the mix. Make a list of your favorite tracks and review them. Just get more activity going overall. I think there'll be a feedback effect from this.
 
I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. It's a convenient way for the remixer to find comments on their most recent works, which might lead them to reply, thus posting more in reviews and getting the activity up.
 
I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, making threads easier to read when there's not row after row of whitespace. I posted about this somewhere before. I think it's detrimental to forum activity that you often can't see more than one post at a time on a laptop screen. That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.
 
I think the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads, probably monthly themes and very specifically crafted by staff so as to not flood the community with various favorite threads. "Remixers having made their debut here over the past year", "remixes of games released in the past 5 years", anything that reminds listeners to drop a line on any remix is good, and once there's more of a culture of reviewing, I think we'd see more reviews on new mixposts as well.
 
We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. We could do lots of things. But I think it all comes down to a few people leading the charge, and building a community out of the people who follow.
 
...which makes me wonder what actually happened back in whenever I allegedly single-handedly kicked the wip board into high gear.
 
Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. Speaking of which, I'm apparently not a workshop mod, just a music boards mod. Is that intentional?

I have to comment on this now that I got namedropped. THANKS WILL. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
 
I think it's all about pace. Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posed, whether on a wip, on a posted remix, or in the community overall, people saw that these big names weren't celebrities in their ivory towers, but regular forum folks like us lowly unposted wannabes. And it inspired us.
 
The wip board specifically became a place for me to help others get past the hurdles I had gotten past, and in the process develop a more critical ear and improve my own work. So the place became important to me. Still is, but running the sd3 project has eaten a lot of the enthusiasm over the years, so I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. I'm hoping I can make a comeback and fill a couple of pages with predominantly "last post by Rozovian".
 
I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. There's evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active and do a great job at giving people feedback. There's the whole mod review thing. But I think we're missing the community we had back then. Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place, and they don't show on the forum, so forumites don't engage with them, Facebook folks don't engage with Soundcloud comments, and the whole thing gets spread too thin. I like Soundcloud. But I don't like their comments system, specifically because it draws the comments away from the thread on the wip board.
 
On that note, back to reviews. pu_freak's completely right about how remixes appear on social media and get a lot of their responses from there instead of in reviews. That's a big part of it. I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth, no matter where that comment would end up.
 
We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.
 
Will had questions for us.
 
1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
 
Back when, it was that I spent so much time posting on wips. Then it was that I didn't have time or energy for it. Now it's that it's not a habit for me to hang out here. I drop by to check for new things to mod review, but that's about it. I don't think I was ever the one reviewing the new mixposts. Rather, I'd make playlists, listen, and comment on the ones I really liked. Which reminds me, I need to review April Rain, if I haven't already, because it's spectacular.
 
What just happened to the formatting?
 
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
 
Just start reviewing. Find someone to agree or disagree with, and create a discussion about the mix. Make a list of your favorite tracks and review them. Just get more activity going overall. I think there'll be a feedback effect from this.
 
I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. It's a convenient way for the remixer to find comments on their most recent works, which might lead them to reply, thus posting more in reviews and getting the activity up.
 
I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, making threads easier to read when there's not row after row of whitespace. I posted about this somewhere before. I think it's detrimental to forum activity that you often can't see more than one post at a time on a laptop screen. That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.
 
I think the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads, probably monthly themes and very specifically crafted by staff so as to not flood the community with various favorite threads. "Remixers having made their debut here over the past year", "remixes of games released in the past 5 years", anything that reminds listeners to drop a line on any remix is good, and once there's more of a culture of reviewing, I think we'd see more reviews on new mixposts as well.
 
We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. We could do lots of things. But I think it all comes down to a few people leading the charge, and building a community out of the people who follow.
 
...which makes me wonder what actually happened back in whenever I allegedly single-handedly kicked the wip board into high gear.
 
Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. Speaking of which, I'm apparently not a workshop mod, just a music boards mod. Is that intentional?

I have to comment on this now that I got namedropped. THANKS WILL. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
 
I think it's all about pace. Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posed, whether on a wip, on a posted remix, or in the community overall, people saw that these big names weren't celebrities in their ivory towers, but regular forum folks like us lowly unposted wannabes. And it inspired us.
 
The wip board specifically became a place for me to help others get past the hurdles I had gotten past, and in the process develop a more critical ear and improve my own work. So the place became important to me. Still is, but running the sd3 project has eaten a lot of the enthusiasm over the years, so I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. I'm hoping I can make a comeback and fill a couple of pages with predominantly "last post by Rozovian".
 
I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. There's evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active and do a great job at giving people feedback. There's the whole mod review thing. But I think we're missing the community we had back then. Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place, and they don't show on the forum, so forumites don't engage with them, Facebook folks don't engage with Soundcloud comments, and the whole thing gets spread too thin. I like Soundcloud. But I don't like their comments system, specifically because it draws the comments away from the thread on the wip board.
 
On that note, back to reviews. pu_freak's completely right about how remixes appear on social media and get a lot of their responses from there instead of in reviews. That's a big part of it. I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth, no matter where that comment would end up.
 
We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.
 
Will had questions for us.
 
1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
 
Back when, it was that I spent so much time posting on wips. Then it was that I didn't have time or energy for it. Now it's that it's not a habit for me to hang out here. I drop by to check for new things to mod review, but that's about it. I don't think I was ever the one reviewing the new mixposts. Rather, I'd make playlists, listen, and comment on the ones I really liked. Which reminds me, I need to review April Rain, if I haven't already, because it's spectacular.
 
What just happened to the formatting?
 
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
 
Just start reviewing. Find someone to agree or disagree with, and create a discussion about the mix. Make a list of your favorite tracks and review them. Just get more activity going overall. I think there'll be a feedback effect from this.
 
I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. It's a convenient way for the remixer to find comments on their most recent works, which might lead them to reply, thus posting more in reviews and getting the activity up.
 
I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, making threads easier to read when there's not row after row of whitespace. I posted about this somewhere before. I think it's detrimental to forum activity that you often can't see more than one post at a time on a laptop screen. That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.
 
I think the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads, probably monthly themes and very specifically crafted by staff so as to not flood the community with various favorite threads. "Remixers having made their debut here over the past year", "remixes of games released in the past 5 years", anything that reminds listeners to drop a line on any remix is good, and once there's more of a culture of reviewing, I think we'd see more reviews on new mixposts as well.
 
We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. We could do lots of things. But I think it all comes down to a few people leading the charge, and building a community out of the people who follow.
 
...which makes me wonder what actually happened back in whenever I allegedly single-handedly kicked the wip board into high gear.
 
Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. Speaking of which, I'm apparently not a workshop mod, just a music boards mod. Is that intentional?

I have to comment on this now that I got namedropped. THANKS WILL. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
 
I think it's all about pace. Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posed, whether on a wip, on a posted remix, or in the community overall, people saw that these big names weren't celebrities in their ivory towers, but regular forum folks like us lowly unposted wannabes. And it inspired us.
 
The wip board specifically became a place for me to help others get past the hurdles I had gotten past, and in the process develop a more critical ear and improve my own work. So the place became important to me. Still is, but running the sd3 project has eaten a lot of the enthusiasm over the years, so I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. I'm hoping I can make a comeback and fill a couple of pages with predominantly "last post by Rozovian".
 
I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. There's evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active and do a great job at giving people feedback. There's the whole mod review thing. But I think we're missing the community we had back then. Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place, and they don't show on the forum, so forumites don't engage with them, Facebook folks don't engage with Soundcloud comments, and the whole thing gets spread too thin. I like Soundcloud. But I don't like their comments system, specifically because it draws the comments away from the thread on the wip board.
 
On that note, back to reviews. pu_freak's completely right about how remixes appear on social media and get a lot of their responses from there instead of in reviews. That's a big part of it. I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth, no matter where that comment would end up.
 
We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.
 
Will had questions for us.
 
1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
 
Back when, it was that I spent so much time posting on wips. Then it was that I didn't have time or energy for it. Now it's that it's not a habit for me to hang out here. I drop by to check for new things to mod review, but that's about it. I don't think I was ever the one reviewing the new mixposts. Rather, I'd make playlists, listen, and comment on the ones I really liked. Which reminds me, I need to review April Rain, if I haven't already, because it's spectacular.
 
What just happened to the formatting?
 
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
 
Just start reviewing. Find someone to agree or disagree with, and create a discussion about the mix. Make a list of your favorite tracks and review them. Just get more activity going overall. I think there'll be a feedback effect from this.
 
I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. It's a convenient way for the remixer to find comments on their most recent works, which might lead them to reply, thus posting more in reviews and getting the activity up.
 
I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, making threads easier to read when there's not row after row of whitespace. I posted about this somewhere before. I think it's detrimental to forum activity that you often can't see more than one post at a time on a laptop screen. That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.
 
I think the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads, probably monthly themes and very specifically crafted by staff so as to not flood the community with various favorite threads. "Remixers having made their debut here over the past year", "remixes of games released in the past 5 years", anything that reminds listeners to drop a line on any remix is good, and once there's more of a culture of reviewing, I think we'd see more reviews on new mixposts as well.
 
We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. We could do lots of things. But I think it all comes down to a few people leading the charge, and building a community out of the people who follow.
 
...which makes me wonder what actually happened back in whenever I allegedly single-handedly kicked the wip board into high gear.
 
Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. Speaking of which, I'm apparently not a workshop mod, just a music boards mod. Is that intentional?

I have to comment on this now that I got namedropped. THANKS WILL. WHY ARE WE YELLING?
 
I think it's all about pace. Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posed, whether on a wip, on a posted remix, or in the community overall, people saw that these big names weren't celebrities in their ivory towers, but regular forum folks like us lowly unposted wannabes. And it inspired us.
 
The wip board specifically became a place for me to help others get past the hurdles I had gotten past, and in the process develop a more critical ear and improve my own work. So the place became important to me. Still is, but running the sd3 project has eaten a lot of the enthusiasm over the years, so I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there. I'm hoping I can make a comeback and fill a couple of pages with predominantly "last post by Rozovian".
 
I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. There's evktalo and timaeus222 and others who are active and do a great job at giving people feedback. There's the whole mod review thing. But I think we're missing the community we had back then. Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place, and they don't show on the forum, so forumites don't engage with them, Facebook folks don't engage with Soundcloud comments, and the whole thing gets spread too thin. I like Soundcloud. But I don't like their comments system, specifically because it draws the comments away from the thread on the wip board.
 
On that note, back to reviews. pu_freak's completely right about how remixes appear on social media and get a lot of their responses from there instead of in reviews. That's a big part of it. I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth, no matter where that comment would end up.
 
We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, and gave out a little badge to everyone who made it to 500 reviews. And there's been those initiatives to get every remix at least one page of reviews (we need a new one, with the new forum having more posts per page). Maybe it's a bandaid. Or maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.
 
Will had questions for us.
 
1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
 
Back when, it was that I spent so much time posting on wips. Then it was that I didn't have time or energy for it. Now it's that it's not a habit for me to hang out here. I drop by to check for new things to mod review, but that's about it. I don't think I was ever the one reviewing the new mixposts. Rather, I'd make playlists, listen, and comment on the ones I really liked. Which reminds me, I need to review April Rain, if I haven't already, because it's spectacular.
 
What just happened to the formatting?
 
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
 
Just start reviewing. Find someone to agree or disagree with, and create a discussion about the mix. Make a list of your favorite tracks and review them. Just get more activity going overall. I think there'll be a feedback effect from this.
 
I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes. It's a convenient way for the remixer to find comments on their most recent works, which might lead them to reply, thus posting more in reviews and getting the activity up.
 
I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, making threads easier to read when there's not row after row of whitespace. I posted about this somewhere before. I think it's detrimental to forum activity that you often can't see more than one post at a time on a laptop screen. That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.
 
I think the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads, probably monthly themes and very specifically crafted by staff so as to not flood the community with various favorite threads. "Remixers having made their debut here over the past year", "remixes of games released in the past 5 years", anything that reminds listeners to drop a line on any remix is good, and once there's more of a culture of reviewing, I think we'd see more reviews on new mixposts as well.
 
We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month. We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here. We could raise ocr's profile on reddit. We could do lots of things. But I think it all comes down to a few people leading the charge, and building a community out of the people who follow.
 
...which makes me wonder what actually happened back in whenever I allegedly single-handedly kicked the wip board into high gear.
 
Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall. Speaking of which, I'm apparently not a workshop mod, just a music boards mod. Is that intentional?