djpretzel
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Posts posted by djpretzel
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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2. I've personally always enjoyed the little "December is Reviews month" scenarios we had, like fighting Larry with reviews FF style. I know it has several pros and cons and it doesn't really apply beyond that one month and all, but those were always fun ways to get people to actually listen to ReMixes and reviewing. Even without prizes, a cool story or idea could be incentive enough to sway people sitting on the reviewing fence.
Let's do it again, then. And we'll try and organize some prizes, too!
But as I said, OCR on YouTube and social media is thriving. We've been putting out lots of great albums and remixes almost every day and YouTube is now a major way that people consume that music (we went from ~400k views per month to ~1m per month). OCR is not just these forums, it's an organization. The organization is not dying.
Indeed, if you look at mixes submitted/posted, albums released, and total engagement over social media, things are great.
The MAIN thing we're seeing less of is forum activity, and almost ALL of my plans for the future of the site surround the forums and what we can do with them, so I'm not too worried.... I just need the time to implement these changes, and support from staff in planning it all out.
In stead of having one platform (the forum) with a lot of reactions, you now have 4 platforms (forum, Youtube, Twitter, Facebook) where the total number of reviews/reactions is probably not as in-depth as in ye olden days but in total numbers it's probably larger. I think it'd be cool to just pull in the comments/reviews from the Youtube, Facebook and Twitter postings in the forum as well and see what that does.I've actually been thinking about how that might work. Does anyone have experience doing comment aggregation and representation across multiple social media platforms? On its surface, it seems like a CRON job that does API calls and caches results back to a table we can use to then present the data on the mix page... would actually be kinda cool... just not at the top of my priority list at the moment...
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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1: Why, if applicable, don't you comment on new mixposts on OCR?
2: How do you suggest the number of reviews is brought back up again?
It'd be great if more people responding actually focused on those two questions
My personal answer to the first question is that I do a writeup for every single mix
I've VERY interested in ideas for enhancing feedback & number of reviews.... but here's my current thinking:
- We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X
- We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site
- 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
- We automate the submissions process via the forums
- All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating
- We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members who are reviewing content and offering feedback in the workshop forums as well
So we WILL be modernizing, quite a bit, and hopefully that WILL help... 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, because big changes are in store and we'll need all the help we can get to implement them.
In the meantime, every review helps!
- Garpocalypse, avaris, timaeus222 and 1 other
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But I just want to make sure, is it alright for me to upload the track with the same tip jar and not have it cause any problems if it happens to get approved at a later date here on OCR?
Nothing in our Submissions Agreement prohibits this, so you're good.
With regard to the general question, here's my personal two cents:
- I think it's less effective BUT a bit more honest/direct to have the "Download" link be separate from the "Donate/Support" link, to make it explicitly clear that the music in question is being offered for free.
- My understanding of Bandcamp's policies is that you have X number of credits/points (or something like this?) before you can no longer offer music for free... this bothers me, as does using Bandcamp as a platform for free releases, because they're ultimately a for-profit company, they're motivated by $$$ (not a bad thing, just saying), and they don't seem like a great PERMANENT home for free releases because of these reasons. Nevertheless, they're easy, and they're popular...I just hate to think of a future years from now where people single-sourced their free stuff on Bandcamp and because of changed policies or expired accounts or running out of credits, it's no longer available.
- timaeus222 and Just Coffee
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Just chiming in to say: great album name!
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Some good ideas, and we didn't do as many as we wanted, so perhaps a couple more surprise floods before the end of the year!
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As a side note, I've contacted ReMixers with mixes tagged solo-piano asking for sheet music & MIDI files - we'll see what comes up!!
RadicalDreamers, with regard to standards, do you think you could start drafting something very basic that lays out what we might prefer in terms of standard formatting, etc.? Guidelines, in other words? I'd like the idea of quality control and canonical, perfected, standardized sheet music, but I think we're also going to want to encourage as much contribution as possible without overloading folks with requirements. Nevertheless, having some basic guidelines would be great...
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It definitely interests me, and actually we (OCR) would potentially be interested in carving out an area of the site to accommodate sheet music.
We're ALSO interested in getting sheet music for ReMixes (primarily the solo piano mixes, at least initially), and attaching/presenting it in context with the actual ReMix.
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I may be one of the few who check the site on their phones but anyways. When surfing threads there are only two options for looking through multi page threads, "previous" and "next". This is bothersome on huge threads like the recent Sigma Fortress Remix Gauntlet, where you have 40 pages to poke through when you just want to go to the most current. I don't know if this can be addressed or if it's just a limitations of the forum software , either way I thought it was worth mentioning.
*title should say gripe. oops, wrote this on a phone.
IPS 4.X is responsive, so the need for a separate mobile skin goes away. We'll be upgrading this year, and it will provide the foundation for many exciting new features that we've been promising for years, so I'm pretty psyched.
You can preview how it looks, more or less, @ https://community.invisionpower.com/topic/217868-the-world-cup-2006-thread/
You'll notice that on phones, you still get first / prev / next / last, BUT you can also click on the "Page X of X" and go directly to a specific page.
After we upgrade the forums, we'll also be upgrading the whole site to be responsive... that should also be this year, so it's going to be a very busy fourth quarter for yours truly!
- timaeus222, Black_Doom, Flexstyle and 1 other
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Would it be bad form to name the album after one of the songs? We TEND not to do that, but DAMN if some of the song names wouldn't make great album names.... specifically:
- "The Road is Full of Dangers"
- "Seeking Dreams Through the Window of the Stars" (or just "The Window of the Stars")
- "Celebrational Melody"
- "Delightful Adventure"
...and then, it would probably be too lolz, but another idea is something that plays off the very conversational source titles, such as:
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"The Album is Full of Music"
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"Let's ReMix SMRPG!"
Like I said, probably too lolz...
Other ideas:
- "On the Road" (Kerouac ref)
- "Road to the Stars" (incidentally, a 1957 Soviet Sci-Fi film)
- "Hit the Star Road!"
Personally, I really like "The Road is Full of Dangers" and "The Window of the Stars" as legit album names... and "Delightful Adventure" has a certain Zen simplicity to it, as well...
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PSP is kinda lost to history right now, but you still get free PS VIta games per month through PS+ so it's not a bad deal. I've never bought a vita game before and I have a huge library of vita games.
Having a PS Vita without PS+ isn't HALF as good as having one with; like Brandon, I've got a ton of freebie games, Sony has kept things interesting, and since I shilled out for the 64GB memory card (ugh) I've got a walking arcade.
Recommendations? Some duplicates based on what's already been covered, but:
- P4G
- P3P (PSP)
- Jeanne D'Arc (PSP - best strategy RPG EVAHHHHHH)
- Wipeout 2048
- BlazBlue EX
- LittleBigPlanet VIta (one of the best in the LBP series)
- Rayman Origins
- Killzone Mercenary (wins my award for best handheld graphics, plus actually seems a bit more FUN than other KZ games)
- Tearaway
- Danganronpa
I don't think you can go wrong with any of those, personally... I love my Vita, it lets me game in short spurts where I may otherwise not have the chance, the battery life is pretty darn solid, and resuming RIGHT back where you left off makes the whole thing pretty seamless.
Where did Sony go wrong? Capcom not porting SF4 didn't help, for one...3DS version is so gimpy... a shame.
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I think I've listened to this over 100 times now! Xenon was the game to inspire my username, and I absolutely love everything about this remix, including the variations so well integrated throughout.
A review of Xenon 'Xoldin' Out for a Xero' by a user named Xenonetix is the pinnacle of Xenonnery; achievement unlocked
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At MAGClassic, DJP mentioned something about there being one track in the torrent that turned out not to be the final version (though it's fine on both the OCR and album site itself, I think), and suggested re-downloading that.
Is that still the case? And, if so, which track is it? KF
- Yes
- 1-15 - Memories of Dali
- Arranged by: Jean Of mArc, Solveig Giffin, Christine MacIsaac
- Source: Village of Dali
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There's 3,108 ReMixes cataloged now. What would really help is a list of all the expunged OCR IDs, so I don't have to go hunting down each gap in the series.
- Does this help? http://ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog
- Otherwise I can code an SQL query of some kind to get just the gaps, in CSV/XML or whatever works
- I'd love to add MusicBrainz references for all the mixes, on our side... is it possible to get a spreadsheet/CSV/XML of the full list? ReMix URL should be enough for an ID, and then the MusicBrainz URL?
- Really appreciate the meticulous & thorough work!
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In any case, I thought the variations and interpretation here were subtle but substantive. I don't agree with saying this is too similar throughout or not interpretive enough just because it's not melodically transformative. There's more than one way to create a meaningful interpretation with legit development, and IMO this is done here.
I didn't find the drums thin, just intentionally clean & ambient, so I won't focus on that.
The core issue is lack of variation/development, I'd say... I see where Flex is coming from, and I don't agree with Larry that it's not an issue... this is dynamically a pretty static experience, and if you jump around from minute to minute randomly, you'll hear the similarities. But, I mean.... it's a chillout/ambient piece. It's a meditation on the source and it's definitely going for an aesthetic where nothing is supposed to really stick out or ramp up in intensity... in other words, the stasis is intended.
I think production's fine, but my personal thinking is... what if this went on for another 3 minutes? 5? 10? We would draw the line somewhere, if the level of development & change remained at this pace... while one can compare the last minute to the first minute and hear clear differences, the level of structural self-similarity is pretty durn high.
Not too high, though... ultimately this fits within my mental framework of a ReMix that uses its time well and isn't excessively static... but it's either on the threshold, or at least in the proximity, of being problematic, in that specific regard.
Otherwise, fine stuff. This concern is mostly a genre thing, but I'd encourage the artist to attempt to evolve things a bit more over time.
YES
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I have a 3 month old baby
Congrats! Enjoy the sleep deprivation
As for what I've been up to... well, FF9 release, obviously... but also looking into taking some grad classes, & getting my basement studio set up so I can work in isolated peace, away from the hubbub of 21mo. old daughter!
Edited thread title since it didn't really convey intent of thread...
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This mix, however, truly has, as djp hoped, cast the tune in a new light for me. The instrumentation, the liberal arrangement, the overall vibe (and, oh yeah, those wonderful vibes...see what I did there?) make this mix one of my top ten standout tracks from a great project album, and probably the biggest pleasant surprise I've gotten from an OCR album since Balance and Ruin.
That's truly great to hear; I appreciate the feedback, & since I wasn't sure if folks would get what I was going for, it's rewarding to know that at least a few did
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- Preview it: http://youtu.be/ja7S7jcgORQ
- Download it: http://ff9.ocremix.org
- Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Final_Fantasy_IX_-_Worlds_Apart.torrent
Firstly, credit where it is due! This album project was originally started by Brandon Strader, who you might also know as the director of the FFI and FFII albums on OC ReMix. Please do check out those, and all of the other Final Fantasy albums!
As you might have heard, this album has been a long time coming. This is partly because it is humongous, featuring 58 tracks with contributions from 57 artists. Final Fantasy IX has a huge soundtrack (over 120 tracks), and the reason for this is the great number of variations on motifs. There are so many variations that we actually had to limit the number of versions of similar themes. Twice in interviews, Mr. Uematsu has said that the Final Fantasy IX soundtrack is his favourite of the series, and you can definitely tell he got carried away given the depth on display. Even if you don't agree that it's his best, I definitely think it's the most cohesive effort in the series.
One thing you might notice about this album is the amount of new faces (or new at the time) who contributed multiple tracks. This is because they actually joined OC ReMix just for this project because of how much they love FFIX. I'm personally really happy for that to be the case, as I've always thought that you can really hear when people are invested in their tracks. Spotlighting the game music you really love is what we're all about here, and I feel like that is particularly true with this album.
I'd like to extend a huge thank you to all the contributors to the album including the 57 ReMixers; the awesome artists at Game-Art-HQ; José for working on the trailer; Kevin "TheGreyNinja" Merriman for the cover art; Flexstyle for a bit of mastering; and finally djp, Larry, and the other staff for helping to get everything out the door.
Thanks for waiting, and I really hope you enjoy it!
- Cain "Fishy" McCormack
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Andy's voice has gotten a lot deeper since he's been working out! But he seems angry about it...
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Just chiming in quickly to say that the hard work & effort is truly appreciated - staff spent a long time, many hours, coming up with this list of tags, refining it, debating it, etc., and it's great to see it finally being employed.
Example conversation: we must have gone back & forth over the term "ethnic" to label exotic or non-western instrumentation alone for 5 minutes. You DO see it employed sometimes elsewhere, but we all felt it was antiquated & offensive in its ethnocentrism. Yes, we actually care enough to discuss these things in such detail, so it's good to see the community care about helping out!
- timaeus222, Eino Keskitalo and Tables
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
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What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.
HELP NEEDED! ReMix Tagging Project! (Genres, Moods, Instrumentation, etc.)
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Any updates? Gotta keep it going!