Abadoss   Members

This may or may not be relevant, but just something to think about, timing-wise: Project threads, traditionally, have been locked for historical record sometime around the release of the album.

This may or may not be relevant, but just something to think about, timing-wise: Project threads, traditionally, have been locked for historical record sometime around the release of the album.

@Atomicfog It's pretty much up to OCR staff to get the albums they plan on releasing ahead of this out in a timely manner. XPRTNovice will likely release his track ahead of the album with a nice music video attached to it, so there will likely be some opportunity to hear at least one track ahead of the full release (and it's one heck of a track). The music itself is done, though, and the album does sound pretty darn good if I do say so myself, just gotta get the rest of the behind-the-scenes work finished for it.
 
Sorry it's taking even more time, but it will be worth the wait, I promise!

Alright folks, got some news for this one - yes, the album is still moving along!
Even better, it's been submitted in it's entirety!
I've listened to the finished product with some of my fellow judge peers (as well as with Bahamut, the original director for the album) and it seems like it shouldn't have any issues under review, so I can finally say that this thing is happening, and it's happening soon. There will be some teasers and such in the coming months to get y'all excited about the album, but in the meantime I'll share what I think is the *second* most fun organ bit from the album. Ain't the whole song, but I did have a lot of fun making an organ part for one of my tracks so I figured why not spread the joy a little bit?
Actually pretty excited to have this submitted, and not just because it'll be a decades-long endeavor coming to a close, but also because the album sounds great. Will it be worth the wait?
... well it was a long wait so I can't be sure, but it'll definitely be worth spending some time with, that's for sure!

Hello!

The music is done, I had to go through a move in the meantime which stalled me for a bit. It's mostly an organizational effort on my part to give both the music and the track order to the staff for review, which once my computer equipment is set up shouldn't take too long. I'm shooting to get it out before the end of the month, since I will be presenting at a panel during MAGWest in September - would like to give good news at that point!

Not bad at all, you'll be hearing an update in here before the end of the month.

My only thoughts are... "Murder a steer"?

Also, curious.  If this album doesn't officially release let us hear it at least, haha

It's a new year and a lot of things have changed, but I figure it's worth checking in. How goes things?

It's been an amazing run! Well done!

I tried to keep this brief, but as you might know, that's not my forte.
FIRST, the facts...
On October 28th I informed staff that I was stepping down from my role as president/admin/owner/etc. of OverClocked ReMix, and on November 1st I also stepped down from the board of Game Music Initiative, the 501c3 non-profit organization that funds OCR. In short, I no longer feel I have the bandwidth to do these roles justice and to not only maintain, but advance, the missions of both projects. I will be working with Shariq Ansari (DarkeSword) to transition my responsibilities and ensure continuity of operations. The (excellent!) mix posted on Halloween was published without my direct involvement, subsequent posts up to the milestone #OCR04500 have been superbly executed, and I am confident that staff will continue the work necessary to operate - and evolve - OCR in my absence. I will be even less available than I have been, lately, so I apologize in advance for any lack of responsiveness.
THEN, the feels...
Where to even begin?
It's hard to encapsulate over two decades of history; omissions are inevitable. What began as a neat side project I started in my parents' basement in 1999 snowballed into something far beyond my wildest expectations, due to the blood, sweat, tears, and unbridled, rampant creativity that thousands of you have contributed. Much of this happened before social media was even a thing and before the platforms/services we now heavily associate with the modern internet had come into being; it was a frontier, and we were on it, and we took it pretty seriously because we knew how amazing VGM is, how creative arrangements could effectively convey and explore that vast musical landscape, and how a small fandom communicating via email, IRC, & forums could collaborate to build mighty, new things. We took it seriously, often too seriously, but we ALSO played more than a few rounds of Shaq-Fu at conventions, made some truly ridiculous (but always musical!) joke mixes, and developed internal circles of lore with our own memes & jargon.
NOT in strictly chronological order: there was some drama with now-legendary composer Jake Kaufman; VGMix entered the fray; we added a judges panel so it wasn't just me making stuff up; we released our first community album; the unmoderated forum birthed its own sort of... subculture; the site itself evolved to be database-driven and not just two giant dropdowns sorted by game/date; we posted mixes submitted by composers George "The Fat Man" Sanger and Jeremy Soule; we met/interviewed Hiroki Kikuta and Nobuo Uematsu; our album trailers by the incomparable José the Bronx Rican started blowing minds; we started appearing in person at Otakon, PAX, MAG, others - much love to all for having us; we bumped into Leeroy Jenkins at ROFLcon and gave him a hoodie; we started hosting from our own server and managing the technical side of things ourselves; thanks to Mr. Shael Riley (among others!), we got to remix the music for an actual Street Fighter game (!!); we released fifteen more albums...
...and then we turned ten, on December 11th of 2009.
Quite a first decade, and I missed hundreds of things I shouldn't have. Hundreds of firsts, some tragic lasts, and millions of memories that can't quite be conjured by words.
In 2011, we stood up for Fair Use at World’s Fair Use Day, an event organized by the non-profit Public Knowledge.
In 2012, we launched our kickstarter for Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin, it was taken down, we talked with Square lawyers directly for a couple hours and made the non-profit project structure clear & contractual, and we relaunched a successful kickstarter. That's not always how those things go!
We launched Game Music Initiative in 2016, creating an official 501c3 charity to formalize the finances around OCR and potentially support other VGM-related projects, too. On a related note, I’ve absolutely loved seeing OC ReMixes featured by charity speedrunners Games Done Quick (GDQ) - it’s exactly the type of thing I always wanted to see, that synergy.
Things do start getting a little quieter from then on out, and I think there are a ton of reasons for that, but it has been an incredible and improbable journey that I wouldn't have missed for the world. Thank you ALL for making it possible; OCR was always yours, I aspired only to stewardship of something I wanted to exist for everyone.
FINALLY, the future…
It's time - some would say past time - for OverClocked ReMix itself to be ReMixed.
That's the point, right?
Infinite permutation; endless possibility.
You don't always know the day, month, or even year when your influence on something starts holding it back, or when the waning amount of time and energy you can dedicate becomes a liability. That type of certainty is often elusive; it can be a difficult diagnosis to even contemplate, and you need to look for & listen to signs. In addition to just being too much of a single point of failure for OCR (sorry, engineering mindset), the last year I've been asking myself whether it was time to let go, and I think the answer is sometimes in the asking. I have been stretched thin, like butter scraped over too much bread, and that's when you leave the Shire.
Beyond representing what I genuinely believe is best for the future of OCR, I absolutely confess a personal wish to redirect reclaimed time & energy to my family and my own music. Being a husband to my wife Anna and being a father to our daughters Esther and Sarah is my meaning; I have always put them first, but now I can put them even MORE first. Esther just started learning trombone, so in a few years, expect a collab! Sarah is building her confidence learning piano & makes me proud every day. I want to write new music for them, and with them, and that requires more time than I've had.
I believe the principles that have driven us - embracing all games & all styles of music, emphasizing interpretation & creativity, offering both curation and critique, and providing a non-commercial platform for those who seek it - are truly timeless, but there are many ways to honor them.
I look to the new leadership/staff to galvanize, streamline, diversify, and re-imagine, within that immense space.
I'll be leaving them with some ideas of my own; please let them know yours. I ask the community to support them, embrace change, provide guidance, and be patient; I believe it will be worth it!
Thanks,
- djpretzel
 

Alright, the final due date has passed, there will be no more tracks accepted for this album. I am working on putting together the final package for review for the staff this week. Thanks for the additional support from members like Voodoo Queen, bLiNd, and Bunnylord (aka TimComposer) for producing some final tracks for everyone to enjoy!

ALBUM UPDATE:
This album will be resubmitted to OCR on July 13th, so that is the final final cutoff date for anyone who still would like to participate. After that there will be no more accepted submissions. I thank everyone who has shown continued interest in this project, and look forward to this chapter in OCR's history being closed. Let's end it on a high note, everyone!

If you two can quickly pop something out fully finished, I'd certainly encourage it. As long as it doesn't put any more pressure on Gario and/or delay things further.
(For the record, I have no control in any of this. I would just cheer you on if you can do it.)

Doing swell, @Abadoss, plan on getting this back to staff sometime early October.

Just have a few small touches and then this should be on it's way

I'm working on finishing the last track, then I'll be trying to send it back to staff.

I am working on this pretty actively, atm, so I'm hoping I'm able to get this out soon. Looking forward to providing the update when I get this back to staff.

One-hundred percent acceptable. I am far more familiar than I care to be with how damaging mental and emotional stress can be. As eager as I am to see the album released, I'm not eager enough to forget the way that feels. Take your time. Gather your spoons. Ask for help when/if you need it.

One-hundred percent acceptable. I am far more familiar than I care to be with how damaging mental and emotional stress can be. As eager as I am to see the album released, I'm not eager enough to forget the way that feels. Take your time. Gather your spoons. Ask for help when/if you need it.

One-hundred percent acceptable. I am far more familiar than I care to be with how damaging mental and emotional stress can be. As eager as I am to see the album released, I'm not eager enough to forget the way that feels. Take your time. Gather your spoons. Ask for help when/if you need it.

Thanks for the update, and no worries. Focus on healing and recovering, the album can wait a while longer

Hello, mostly dealing with a mental breakdown with mounting pressures of work and... well, bullshit, all through last year. I'm trying to ease back into the swing of things but it takes time. Sorry that the progress of an album relies on the back of someone who is, let's just say, mentally exhausted.

The Lufia album is something I need a lot of mental energy to work through, which I've been recovering slowly but surely. Not that fair to most of the good folk who worked on it, but I'm only human at the end of the day.

... also, is this the first time I posted in the public forums in a year? Sheesh, things must've been rough.

And in short supply.

What a neat little album with a fun story behind it. I hope all of the remixer parents who participated were able to get some warm fuzzies out of playing the music for their young kids before they started to get too big for music like this.
I enjoy the wide variety of source material here, with some frequently-mixed classics and some more obscure ones thrown in too. I think my favorite is 3-09, Child of Legend, which just seems to inhabit the theme suggested by the album's title so well. Great to get some DuckTales nostalgia, really enjoyed the kind of church organ-y take on Gau's theme in 2-02, and of course the Chrono Trigger tracks are lovely. Another fantastic job.

With Golden Sun out of the way, it's Badass 4, Lufia 2, & FF3.... hoping we can get the last mile on this one, will be talking w/ @Gario