Crulex

As someone who fully fell into the Minecraft hole last year, that piano loop has been the background opening to sighs of relief and letting go of a lot of stress on some more unfortunate days on my end. So hearing this be transformed into a beautiful, calming meditation piece with chimes and such is awesome and brings me some subtle joy. 

Hey all! Just some quick updates I wanted to let you all know about.
Site & Forum Updates
If you're an artist, your forum profile now includes a link to your artist page. This also shows up in your little profile box when you post threads. I've been doing a couple of small style and layout tweaks to forum listings in an effort to reduce some whitespace. Guidelines for certain forums have been moved out of the announcements module to the forum's internal rules setting. You'll see a relevant link on forums that have specific guidelines. I did a pass on forum profile fields and deleted a lot of obsolete data (like the field for your ICQ number!). There are a couple of new fields too, like Pronouns and Discord. Make sure you head over to your account settings and keep that profile updated! Tagging has been disabled on forum threads for regular members. We (the staff) weren't seeing a lot of sensical or consistent usage, so we're in the process of cleaning those up. We may revisit forum thread tags later with predefined options. The Ready to Review process in the Post Your Game ReMixes forum has been retired. It served us well for a couple of years but after a while we found that people were not engaging with it, and it felt like another bureacratic layer to the submission process. We've gone back to the older, more open-ended format where you can just post your remixes for feedback. A similar process in the Recruit & Collaborate forum has also been retired. Vote counts on submissions in the queue have been moved out of thread titles and into tags for the purposes of some internal tooling I'd like to try, so you won't see those anymore on the Currently dashboard and I worked on fixing how that data gets pushed to the dashboard, so you'll still see vote counts. Upcoming Events
Do you have OPINIONS about REMIXES? Join us this Thursday at 8:30PM EST on Discord where we run the first-of-hopefully-many Review Bombs! We're going to get a listening party going for OC ReMixes that have gone the longest without having any reviews and rectify the situation. I've heard of Metroidvania, but METROID VERSUS VANIA?! This Friday, we're kicking off the second run of Game Set Mash!!, our long-form team-based remix competition. This run features music from two legendary franchises: Metroid and Castlevania, and two teams will compete to see who can make the best Metroidvania Mashups. They'll have two weekends to get their tracks done, so check back at the start of February and get your votes in! Speaking of competitions, I'd be remiss if I didn't shout-out the People's Remix Competition, which just ended a legendary 20 year run under the stewardship of @Bundeslang. I remember back when PRC started back in 2003 (!!) and it's been a rock solid staple of OC ReMix since then, with a lot of musicians in the community developing and honing their skills through their participation. Absolutely incredible work from everyone involved over these past two decades. Make sure you check out the thread for the last round!
Well, that's all from me for now. I'm still getting a handle on how everything works and fits together here, but slowly-and-surely we're going to continue to inch OCR ever-forward. Thanks!
- DarkeSword

Really caught the prog vibe in the second half, and I think it's neat how well Frost Walrus and Sigma's stage complimented each other. Some good vocals to go with it, all makes for a pretty solid ReMix. 

Some quality intricate chiptune and glitchy electronica work in this one. I can follow it for the most part, and it stays interesting to say the least. I'm cool with the ending because of how the rest of the mix was presented. Not bad.

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
 

Absolutely not the arrangement I would expect for this theme, but it's so much fun and impressively put together all the same. Perfect fit for an October drinking party, polka at it's best.

This is quite simply a musical celebration of everything I love about video game music, taking a lot of themes and sources most popularly ReMixed and taking the Wily stage theme on a journey through them in different genres and arrangements. Incredible mix!

Such an interesting approach to a song, with the vocal reflections cutting in along with the music like an introspective track. Synth and sax with some rocking electric bits made for a unique combination that I liked quite a bit. Smooth, but with some good energy to keep it going. Not bad.

I think Taucer hit the nail on the head. This has the dark, driven feel of a boss fight, but done in such a smooth, almost relaxing way and that makes it super interesting. It's cool to hear a unique take on a song that's usually in your face and aggressive. Love it.

Always like a great trance track that keeps focused and varies things up as the mix goes on, and the added sfx and voice clips were good choices for the dream theme. The end section was awesome as well with the almost ethereal voice and piano. This is fantastic!

Oh yeah, nice and smooth. Gotta love how many different feelings you can conjure from how a jazz piece is arranged, and this one is certainly a chill and relaxing one for lounging, maybe with a nice drink. 

That is some tasty, smooth as hell jazz! Any opportunity to make a song chill and fun at the same time is worth it, and this fits! Awesome mix!

I could certainly get used to more music that combines funky electronica with eastern flair and arranging. Giving it a little bit of rocking guitar later on was a great addition as well. Nice work combing history and music for an overall interesting and fun ReMix.

That ambient break and the overall energetic beat really won me over on this ReMix. I actually dig the “hey!” clips and how it really does feel like a pumped up take on the original, enhancing the best parts of the source and adding just a little extra to it. Pretty sweet mix!

I love everything about this ReMix, from the vocals and the story driven lyrics, to the amazing arrangement and guitar, even the sound effects going along with the music cues. This is fantastic and honestly a good musical representation of what facing Mr. Dream is like most of the time  (even if I oddly find him easier to beat than Sandman and Macho once you get the pattern down). Such a great song, man.

^ doesn't get the joke.
 
also vocal haters are so 2005, c'mon, get with the program.
 
I enjoyed this, especially with the Zappa-esque stylings. We need more of those around here.

First off, gotta say that the SFX at the beginning was pretty interesting. Nice tropical/Latin jazz, which is one of the few kinds of jazz I can stand for a while, which is good considering that this is more than eight minutes long. And making an eight minute song that doesn't get dull halfway through is a feat in itself. I really enjoyed the slower part where the drums took over. Great solos and great ReMix overall.

I LOVE the underlying industrial beat in this ReMix, and of course the guitar work was awesome here. The arrangement was reminded me of some musical styles I would hear in the mid-to-late 90's, especially with some of the cymbal hits, which was cool. Sounded clean, sounded great, can't fault this mix at all. Nice work, fellas.

Darker, yes - and it'll just be default. Large richtext areas still dark-on-white, as in above screenshot, but some inverted bits, and otherwise darker in general. Sticky navbar & sitewide login status.

Is a dark theme coming to OCR!?! If so I'm hyped!

Ah, man, so slick and smooth like a nice shiny stone. And that electric guitar fits in so well as a driver to the main watery melody, helping things move along. For a downbeat, chill ReMix, this manages to keep a lot of the musical arrangement in the forefront and keep things interesting, which is cool and what I like to see from more easy-going ReMixes. Good job, you two.

Love the touch of glitchy dubs all around this funky track. Not sure intense is the right word, but certainly gives this quite the edge and has a more serious sound than other tracks that have higher energy or funk, but keeps all the fun intact. I always love hearing more Zero ReMixes, and this is a really smooth mix that I enjoyed more than the source itself. Well done!

As someone who is an unapologetic 80's era music lover and someone who also just recently discovered Mitch Murder through the newer Friday the 13th game, I could not approve of this synthwave Shovel Knight ReMix any harder if I wanted to. I especially like how well Tinker Knight's theme lends itself to a more upbeat treatment here. Fantastic beat, voxy vocals, and great teamwork between the synths and percussion, this is awesome, dude!

Man, the chiptune really does remind me of some older NES/Game Boy Color themes just from how the the chips play along with the synth in the rest of the mix. Would certainly fit right in with that era and then some. I particularly liked the section between 2:09-2:23 where you can really hear the percussion beat behind the chips with that hard, deliberate booming hits to the beat. Well done taking these two sources and making something interesting with them.

Very action/adventure oriented, which is perfect for delving into the Contra games. Hits hard and fast from the get-go, and has a great break in the middle that gradually builds back up to the action quickly. Not much I could say that others haven't said, but I do like how the drums sounded, especially in areas where they were more featured around the guitars. The xylophone was a good choice to add another layer to the arrangement. Overall, pretty good work from a lot of talented ReMixers.