djpretzel

These reasons may seem true for you personally, but I disagree strongly with both as generalizations, and they certainly aren't true for me.
They're also both kinda-sorta saying the same thing, re: ownership and that being the primary sticking point, creatively speaking.
My more-than-two-cents:
I think of my mixes as my own AND as collaborations with the original composer's ideas. I don't think it has to be one or the other. I actually tend to think of ALL artistic creation as a collaboration of sorts, even the most personal works, so it all lays on a spectrum... not a Boolean. So this is a false dichotomy, to me at least. I've heard hundreds of arrangements that brought original ideas to the table, relative to the source in question; a musical work's status as an arrangement carries SOME obligation to reuse ideas, motifs, etc., but within that framework artists can be quite creative, as we've seen over two decades, and outside of that framework, making something original, artists can still be quite derivative. So again, the premise seems weird to me, too much hinged on some notion of personal ownership being the end-all be-all & offering a stamp of great meaning & significance. My answer is that I still do it, primarily because there are still plenty of melodies out there that I want to hear a certain way, that I can bring something to, and make something of worth that I enjoy and that others might enjoy as well.

Damn you're old, and you're probably younger than me.  I don't remix anymore but that's because I've been burnt out for years.  Moving a few times, getting married, having to take care of my house and yard and stuff like that has all worked against my desire to sit down and create music.  That said I actually don't care much anymore about whether I make original music or remixes, to me it's the enjoyment of creating something, and game remixing works just fine in that regard for me.

I think @Gario pretty much shares brains with me at this point. Yes, all this. Having a mentor is good and if you find someone who can help like that, go for it. But don't let that be your only avenue for learning.
Public feedback can be useful too, because
It potentially could provide a greater number of fresh ears. In principle it is probably easier to obtain (if the mentor would be hard to contact, which he/she probably will be because he/she is only one person who has a life). It opens you to potentially inexperienced perspectives that you should digest, which likely provide for you a realistic experience on how your music may sound to a general audience. The main problem with public feedback is of course that sometimes, you have to filter it and figure out who is actually saying what, because more experienced people might either speak with jargon, or less experienced people might say what they think they mean without actually projecting what they meant. That's the chance you take, and I am quite glad I took that chance for 2+ years...
Fortunately, when I got public feedback, the people who came in (Flexstyle, Gario, Phonetic Hero, Chimpazilla, DaMonz, . . . ) knew enough, and I will fully admit that at the time it was I who needed to learn more! And it was because I took that chance and met those people, that I had extra motivation to keep coming back! So, for me personally, public feedback (forum feedback) was more important than mentor feedback. I don't think I had a real mentor (besides the Judges), more like I had some friendly collaborators...

Am I the only one who thinks of this question primarily in terms of # of songs and not duration?
I'm happier with a 12-song, 40-minute album where each song is unique than I am with an 8-song, 60-minute album, generally speaking... more about the number of ideas than their length

Am I the only one who thinks of this question primarily in terms of # of songs and not duration?
I'm happier with a 12-song, 40-minute album where each song is unique than I am with an 8-song, 60-minute album, generally speaking... more about the number of ideas than their length

Am I the only one who thinks of this question primarily in terms of # of songs and not duration?
I'm happier with a 12-song, 40-minute album where each song is unique than I am with an 8-song, 60-minute album, generally speaking... more about the number of ideas than their length

OK, I know this album is at least two years old at this point, but this is my first time hearing it. (I have a really long backlog of remixes and albums I'm trying to get through. So we're doing this now.) Now, for all of the good things I can say about this album, the one I feel the overwhelming need to say is:
"YUNGTOWN! Yeah! Sub2Yungtown!"
Seriously, though. Thank you for starting this off with the person who is probably the only rapper in the world that I actually like.
As for everything else in here, I assume nobody is exactly waiting for an in-depth review on a two-year-old album, so I'm only going to say, stellar job to you all. There wasn't a song in here that I disliked, and I found myself head bopping along with these. Granted, that could be because I'm sleep-deprived and feel like doing that more than normal, but still. Great jorb, everybody.

For me, it's 40-50 minutes. I've got plenty of CDs that fall in the 30-35 minute range that I enjoy, but 40-50 minutes feels like the right amount of time for an album when played from start to finish. It's also the time range that some of my favorite albums fall into, so maybe that's why.

DJPretzel turned in his track ahead of schedule! Yes!!! And it is pretty damn amazing! Also, for those who have been keeping track of the track listing, do you SEE all that bold green?! We are looking at the light of the end of the tunnel now. This three year journey is finally coming to a close! Skies of Arcadia fans, I sincerely hope you are ready!

Everyone has a different take; for me, I think you just HAVE to come to the creative process with a goal of making something that makes YOU happy. There can be flaws, there can be things you'd do differently next time, you can digest & consider constructive criticism, but if there's an idea SOMEWHERE in there that, regardless of anything else, you think deserves to exist in the world, which you're proud of, you can draw strength from that.
Applied to something like poetry: If I write a poem, and there's a single line, or even a phrase within a line, that I love, that I am proud of, that I want to exist within a context that facilitates it... I'm good.
With music, arrangement in particular, if there's a single melodic or harmonic idea that's not obvious, that works, that feels like something personal that only I might have done "that way"... I'm good.
Obviously, it's better if there are multiple ideas, and it's better if the context in which they exist is polished, strong, etc. overall, but even if it's the most professional-sounding piece of music in the world, if there ISN'T an idea/moment like that in there, I won't love it.
So, to paraphrase: "Draw creative strength from your moments of light, no matter how dark their surroundings may sometimes seem"? Something like that!

A two-fer dip into some fantastic handling of core source material - really impressed to see this group extract this much fun and rocking out of these two themes. Transitions were crisp bordering on amazing (2:50-3:03 being the best example), and there's multiple sections of unique solos that aren't just random riffing but seem to be a natural extension of the core theme. A must for anyone who enjoys metal and/or Mega Man!
Great job!!

Everyone has a different take; for me, I think you just HAVE to come to the creative process with a goal of making something that makes YOU happy. There can be flaws, there can be things you'd do differently next time, you can digest & consider constructive criticism, but if there's an idea SOMEWHERE in there that, regardless of anything else, you think deserves to exist in the world, which you're proud of, you can draw strength from that.
Applied to something like poetry: If I write a poem, and there's a single line, or even a phrase within a line, that I love, that I am proud of, that I want to exist within a context that facilitates it... I'm good.
With music, arrangement in particular, if there's a single melodic or harmonic idea that's not obvious, that works, that feels like something personal that only I might have done "that way"... I'm good.
Obviously, it's better if there are multiple ideas, and it's better if the context in which they exist is polished, strong, etc. overall, but even if it's the most professional-sounding piece of music in the world, if there ISN'T an idea/moment like that in there, I won't love it.
So, to paraphrase: "Draw creative strength from your moments of light, no matter how dark their surroundings may sometimes seem"? Something like that!

I would like to repoint out our track listing progress which is current and up to date as of this evening: https://docs.google.com/document/d/19MJ6_QsHxvDJJlDN_bHbLXddLij8AmwKLn_7TANeN1g/edit?usp=sharing
Our masterer is hard at work at bold greening up all the tracks and making sure we make our 15th anniversary release date on time. When is that, you ask? Well if you count the Legends Gamecube release in Japan of December 26, 2002, then we have until December 25, 2018 to be within our release window of 15th anniversary! We are working real hard to make that date! Wish us luck!
As you can see, we got only a few more tracks left to finish by our talented remixers! Let's wish them luck and wrap this amazing album up once and for all! I hope you fans are starving for some Arcadia music!

The most important thing that prolific artists and composers will tell you is that this stuff becomes incredibly easy if you just do it all the time and consistently. Anxiety about being creative is self-fulfilling, since the issues you talk about (not having ideas, not knowing what to do) come from being unpracticed.
Do you ask someone to run a 5-minute mile if they've been a couch potato for the last 3 years? Being a creative is like being an athlete. If you don't keep those muscles in shape, they'll never, ever work when you ask them to.
Just make stuff, and stop worrying about if it's bad. Bad art can improve, non-existent art can not. And remember:
 
 

I cycle between creative phases. Sometimes I can write with ease. Sometimes I can't. So then I do something else. It might not be music, I have other interests as well. Music-related things I do when I can't write new stuff:
Mix old stuff (something will eventually be finished, for sure)
Create cool new sounds
Making old cool sounds into presets and sorting those
Find new cool sounds in synth preset patches and such
Study, eg on youtube, new techniques and concepts
Experiment with new techniques and concepts
Discover new music to listen to and get inspired
Play along (poorly) with the music, be it my own or someone else's
It can last quite a while, that non-writing phase, but it'll come back. It always has. It always does. Your shortage of ideas is similar. Do something else. Prepare for when you have ideas again. Develop your skillset and your tools while you wait.

True then, true now

Killer!

I could see some minor mastering tweaks/permutations but they'd really just be variations - sounding fantastic as-is, please do submit when you're happy with it (I certainly would be)!

Fantastic arrangement. Wowow.

Hiiii, I did an arrangement of Zelda's Lullaby from the legend of Zelda. I'm thinking of submitting it. Any thoughts on this before I send it in? I'm not so sure about all the mixing, and there's also some minor timing issues that were difficult to solve. But generally I think it sounds cool. 
 
 
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UpfYSyiyf2U&t=62s&frags=pl%2Cwn
 
 
 

It's that time again! Time to start thinking about Christmas as the temps climb to 100ºF+ around the country and people wax nostalgic about when it was cold... forgetting all the bitching they did about how cold it was, the snow, the ice, and all of that. And it's in that spirit... sort of... that we take our first step in getting this year's project underway. Soooooooooo...
 
This project is open to any and all OCR members, regardless of whether you're a posted remixer or not. And now, the details...
When's The Project Deadline?- December 20th, 2018 at 11:59 P.M. EST.
This is now a REALLY hard, non-negotiable deadline, since it's very close to Christmas. We've had lots of last-minute entries and updates over the years and, to be perfectly honest, it shouldn't be that way. With months of time, having to hold off as long as possible for people made things pretty hectic for myself and Dyne in the past. Treating this project like a college paper that doesn't get worked on until the last minute got annoying rather quickly when it kept adding up to lots of hurrying year after year, with last second updates to artwork and retagging/reuploading things. As such, you have until one minute before midnight EST on December 20th to get me the final WAV or MP3 of your song. After that, you're shit outta luck until next year. I need time to do everything, including possibly making a little website to host this project if Dyne isn't online for one reason or another. So this deadline's set in stone... PERIOD.
What Information Does The Coop Need?- When you send me your final versions, I'll need what name you want to use (real or remixer handle) and the name of your remix. You don't have to tell me what song you're remixing. Plus, if you have a website you'd like to pimp, supply that as well and I can add it to the MP3 tags.
What Can Be Remixed?- Any song, really. Traditional Christmas carols, video game music, published music by a signed artist, music from TV/cartoons/anime... whatever gets your heart racing and into that Christmas spirit. This isn't an official OCR album, so you can draw from more sources than just VGM. Plus, you can take a non-Christmas tune, like the Main Theme from Space Harrier, Stage 6 Mission 2 from Metal Head, or I Defend STM from Truxton II, and turn it into a Christmasy one. So know that it's not limited only to songs that are Christmas-like to begin with. All that said, do keep in mind that if you want to submit your song to OCR later, you'll need to keep this site's guidelines in the back of your mind. But for this album, you can take it in just about any direction you want and get as crazy as you'd like (but please, no "Silver Bells" done in farts or something).
How Long Can My Song Be?- As long as you want it to be. There are no restrictions on this, so whether it's 1:30, or 9:51 with a five minute guitar solo ala Metallica, it's all good. But again, if you want to submit your song to OCR later, keep their guidelines in mind.
What Genres Can I Remix In?- Again, the door's wide open here. Rap, Metal, Pop, Piano-solo, Orchestral, Jazz, 8/16-bit, Barber Shop Quartet, A capella... it's up to you where you want to take it.
What Format Should I Submit My Song In?- WAV or an MP3 of at least 192KB/s quality. I'll be tagging the MP3s and making MP3s from any submitted wavs, so you don't have to worry about that. But, if you'd like your website to be in the MP3 comments section, be sure to give it to me when you submit your song.
How About A Little Music To Get Us In The Mood?- To help everyone along, here's a YouTube list of Christmasy tunes made by Ocre a number of years ago... http://ocremix.org/f...72&postcount=19

But remember, not all famous Christmas tunes are upbeat and cheerful. There are some that are more somber or haunting in tone, so you have more moods to play with than happy happy joy joy.
What's The Website's Address Again?- It's got a new home at... http://williammichael.info/aocc/ This album will still be downloaded there as well, as Dyne will continue to host the albums on his site.
How Do We Contact This The Coop Person?- If you've got questions, comments, concerns, want feedback, or your track is done and ready to be sent to me, you can PM me here on OCR, or send me an E-mail at thecoopscorner@gmail.com. Just be sure you remember to include a link to your remix.
 
So yeah, there you go. You've got over five months to get something done for the lovely people of OverClocked Remix and the billions of listeners around the world who've become followers of our project.
Good luck, have fun and make everyone some Nice Work™!
 
Artists involved thus far...
The Coop (director, cover artist and remixer)
TheChargingRhino (remixer)
Skull (remixer)
Ridiculously Garrett (remixer)
Audiomancer (remixer)
Ronald Poe (remixer)
Jamphibious (remixer)
PlanarianHugger (remixer)
HoboKa (remixer)
AxLR (remixer)
Argle (remixer)
Lampje4life (remixer)
Rozovian (remixer)
LuckyXIII (remixer?)
Furorezu (remixer)

Holy shit, this is nice.

HOLY SHIT IT HAS DOBRO! NOW IT'S EVEN NICER!

Loving this, and definitely going to grab your album!

Should be fixed, thanks for reporting.

OCR03750 leads to the wrong review thread.

This is how it supposed to sound - from the beggining.
Great job!

The piece begins with ambient bendings very reminiscent of the of the original sound palette, which I love. The juxtaposition with the organic latin percussion that follows is strange and effective. Overall the idea behind the arrangement is sort of "obvious after the fact" - I'd never thought of this connection before, but it makes perfect sense. Great sound, great playing, and a very enjoyable arrangement. Great work from start to finish!