Melbu Frahma

This particular saga is ended; Brandon has requested removal of his mixes from OCR, and we have decided that it makes sense, given his continued reluctance to admit any wrongdoing and continued insistence that we are in some way at fault / corrupt / whatever.
Put frankly, I don't trust him, I don't believe he learned anything from any of this, and I believe he'd just do it all over again in a heartbeat the next time something came up that he didn't like, didn't understand, misinterpreted, etc. As much of a fan as I am of the music he personally has released via OCR, which we have stood behind, and the albums he has coordinated... if I'm taking time away from my daughters to work on OCR, it has to be for the music, for the site, and for the community, not for the twisted ego & paranoia of a single artist intent on stirring up drama, baiting people, making unfounded accusations, etc.
I am willing to endure quite a bit for the betterment of OCR, and I realize that not ALL of the tasks that I'm responsible for are going to be fun, or enjoyable, or without controversy, but I cannot be expected to indefinitely babysit the fragile ego/psyche of someone who continuously makes bad faith accusations without evidence and sees no fault in his own actions, not to mention a LONG history of claims of harassment by other community members, abusive behavior on the forums, etc.
We will be mailing FF3 artists as well as collaborators who have worked with Brandon on posted mixes, as those will remain on the site unless a consensus decision to remove is reached by all parties. Existing published albums are unaffected by this process.
It's sad, but my goodness... I can't be expected to have unlimited patience and tolerance, nor can our staff. Long time coming. Time to move on.

Even if it's not technically a thing, that deadline should still hold. It'll probably be the thing to finally push me to get something going, at any rate, lol.
But yeah, this really is a huge bummer, but at the same time it's not hard to argue that it's for the betterment of the site at this point, too. You can't let people do what he was doing without repercussion.

Re:  Who wants a policy that's out of date every time a new & relevant technology comes out? 
I don't know, actually, because you see policies from games in particular constantly updating and having to get you to agree to them again. I don't think regular policy revisions are actually that wild an idea, and like you said, not in substance/meaning, but in clarified language, with new up-to-date examples.
 
As for 501c3, I'm genuinely interested right now. Is it on the table? Is a specific amount of funds being waited for, or is there a hangup in terms of someone having to complete some necessary tasks? Curious as to the progress on this.

Youtube ads aren't nearly as intrusive as shitty forum signatures.

"I disagree with you, therefore you are emotional and have no logic" is the only baffling recurrent thing being said in this thread.
Disagreeing with someone's logic does not make your logic correct and the opposing logic null.

Forgive me if this has already been said, but how and where you get your money absolutely matters in terms of ethics. A licensed pharmacist cannot sell drugs from their home, a food truck, etc. They need to sell them through the proper channels.
While youtube ads might be functionally the same thing as website ads, they are distinct. You are changing the channels through which you are getting money and you really should evaluate whether it is ethical to be using someone else's work as a monetized commodity on a different platform. 
Youtube is divorced from the operating costs of this actual website, and I think that is something you need to examine closely. You are not paying for hosting costs on youtube.

This looks like a good idea to me

I think perhaps some people draw a strong line between web ads & YouTube ads, but I'm waiting to hear why that is - it definitely deserves to be talked about, and I'm going to apologize in advance to any artists who feel we should have informed them first BEFORE even testing the waters. We see these ads as equivalent to the existing web ads, as being preferable to them, and as not representing a change in our existing policy, and we wanted a "dry run" & to measure their impact as scientifically as possible.
I'm interested in where this thread goes, and eager to answer any questions. Depending on the outcome, an official announcement will be made & sent out to artists in case folks don't monitor the forums. Some quick points:
@Brandon Strader's right in that we started testing this on June 13th of this year Since that date, $130.99 in ad revenue was generated from ALL YouTube ads combined, a portion of which goes to our channel network This is considerably less than what web ads USED to make, but ever since we tweaked them to get rid of obnoxious & irrelevant content, web ads have tanked... so this is more than they ARE making at present. It's worth noting that it took two months for anyone to really notice... in my mind this is a successful experiment JUST in terms of gauging the impact to the average viewer/listener. Ads have NOT yet been enabled for the 3000+ video back catalog - we are waiting to do that based on the outcome of this conversation and after an official announcement. At that point the ad $$$ would obviously be more, but it won't be one video, or even one artist's videos, making a huge contribution to that - it's the aggregate. We were also hoping to time that announcement with a parallel announcement of filing for 501c3 status and debuting new artist pages which do a better job of promoting the artist than our current layout. So, why would we do this at all when the Patreon is completely covering the site's operating costs, with SURPLUS?
An extremely fair question. To be honest, I hate managing the money side of OCR, I didn't sign up for this, and it's not something I derive joy in even contemplating. For the 501c3 I'm hoping someone on staff can take on the role of treasurer so I can free myself of it. Nevertheless, answers to the above question:
I'm an IT guy. I have backups for my backups. I don't like having a single point of failure, and without a meaningful form of ad revenue, the site's existence would rest solely with Patreon. Membership in a YT network has other benefits... increased reach, an extra level of protection from content matches, etc. Mainly, at least for me, I saw that our web ads completely tanked after we tweaked them to exclude annoying/irrelevant content. I don't think Google's ad model for websites is as good as their model for videos. I'd love to remove most if not all Google ads from this site, and only feature completely relevant stuff like Super Audio Cart, OverClocked Records, and also use that space to promote our existing/upcoming albums. It absolutely is; our content policy still applies, and always will. For the 501c3 filing, there would be additional clarity required surrounding what specifically counts as an operational or promotional cost, tying our hands a bit further, in addition to more specific IRS documentation requirements.

Maybe we could wait on @djpretzel/any staff member's answer before taking this too far?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but if OCR were to monetize the channel, wouldn't all of the videos have ads?

Hell yes! I already have some rad ideas for The Landing that I'm going to work on once I get this FF3 track farther along. 
Well we have very different opinions on Final Fantasy games
But in all seriousness I'm psyched that you took Force Your Way. I can see you doing a pretty kick ass remix of that tune. Also depending on what kind of stuff you need, I'd love to be a small part of that massive collab you're talking about (like doing some guitar or bass or something).

I presume that they'll eventually upload it to their YouTube or Soundcloud? Not sure though.

Also excited for Theme of Bard if RiverSound is involved after hearing the Summoner theme on WATER.

A fire is lit within me, and I have decided to extend this series beyond five albums. Here are the names of the additional entries to the series:
Volume VI: You said it was going to be five Volume VII: This isn't even Final Fantasy, these are Guardian Legend ReMixes Volume VIII: Okay this one is just a picture of a potato salad? Volume IX: Wind Again, but with new artwork, and an audio forward from Darkesword Volume XI: Wait what happened to X? Volume XII: Volume X Volume XIII: More Final Fantasy V ReMixes because we actually do like that game Volume XIII-2 Lightning Returns: Volume XIII Now accepting sign ups for Lightning Returns: Volume XIII.

Hello everyone!
I am back to help contribute to the community, and the next new album project I previously was getting together was for Secret of Mana. After a couple of years of mostly absence, I return to finish this good work up! This was started originally with the aim of getting it out in time for the 20th anniversary of Secret of Mana, but it came and went, and real life kept me too busy.
Directors: Bahamut, pu_freak
Here is the tracklist:
01 - Fear of the Heavens (claimed by Ergosonic) 02 - A Curious Tale (claimed by Hylian Lemon) 03 - Phantom and a Rose (claimed by zyko) 04 - Together Always (claimed by Hakstock) 05 - Fond Memories 06 - Into the Thick of It (claimed by Ergosonic) 07 - The Color of the Summer Sky (claimed by Rexy) 08 - Dancing Animals (claimed by Guifrog) 09 - Distant Thunder (claimed by halc) 10 - The Little Sprite (claimed by Audio Fidelity, bustatunez, DrumUltimA, Jeff Ball, Abi Coffer) 11 - It Happened One Evening (claimed by Guifrog) 12 - In the Dead of Night 13 - Mystic Invasion (claimed by evktalo) 14 - Secret of the Arid Sands 15 - What the Forest Taught Me (claimed by Harmony & djpretzel) 16 - A Wish 17 - Spirit of the Night (claimed by RebeccaETripp) 18 - Did You See the Ocean (claimed by Ergosonic) 19 - Danger (claimed by Sagnewshreds & jnWake) 20 - Calm Before the Storm (claimed by PabloComa) 21 - The Wind Never Ceases 22 - Flight of the Unknown (claimed by Sagnewshreds) 23 - Eternal Recurrence (claimed by pu_freak) 24 - The Legend (claimed by Devastus) 25 - A Bell is Tolling (claimed by Chernabogue) 26 - A Curious Happening 27 - Monarch on the Shore 28 - The Dark Star (claimed by Darangen) 29 - Prophecy (claimed by Sbeast) 30 - Steel and Snare 31 - Whisper and Mantra (claimed by RebeccaETripp) 32 - Ceremony (claimed by Radiowar) 33 - Morning is Here 34 - Leave Time For Love (claimed by GaMetal) 35 - Still of the Night (claimed by Ergosonic) 37 - The Oracle (claimed by The Legendary Zoltan) 38 - A Conclusion 39 - I Won’t Forget (also rearranged in Seiken Densetsu 3 - Where Angels Fear to Tread) 40 - One of Them is Hope 41 - Meridian Dance (claimed by Fishy) 42 - Now Flightless Wings (claimed by Mikeaudio) 43 - The Second Truth From the Left (claimed by Sir Jordanius) 44 - I Closed My Eyes (claimed by dannthr)  
Red means claimed, but no WIP
Green means claimed, with a rough WIP
Purple means claimed, with a good progress WIP
Magenta means claimed, with a near completion WIP
Blue means the final wav is in my hands
More info to come shortly, but feel free to message me about unclaimed tracks (sources linked in tracklist) & proof of quality (if unposted mixer).

Gilgamesh wields a weapon in each hand. Guitars are known as axes. Axes are weapons.

Therefore Gilgamesh will be wielding a guitar in each of his 8 arms. Simple. 

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.

We have a title!
 
Just confirmed with Dustin, the album name is: Window of the Stars
 
Thanks a bunch everyone who pitched in!
 
More claims! Tracks coming in! WE'LL GET THERE FOLKS!!

It's funny that you chose this one as an example of a typical town theme, especially since it contains some elements like synthesized drum beats that usually are not found in town themes in JRPGs. Especially the beginning part gives me more of a "Save Screen" vibe than a town. Later on, the peaceful melody and selection of harmonies and melodic lines clearly is more "peaceful town", but still I think for example Kakariko Village from Zelda: A Link to the Past is a better example of stereotypical "town themes".
 
I think the main aspect of JRPG town themes is that there is no sense of threat audible in the music. The songs are usually downtempo, have some beautiful melodies played on serene, soothing instruments. They often have some kind of strings/pads for the chords to create a warm, welcoming atmosphere, and the chords are predominantly major ones. When there are too many minor chords in there it mutates more into a love/sadness theme, so the major chords play a major role here (no pun intended
 
Instrumentation is also a very important aspect, as town themes usually have little to no percussion in them. If anything, it's some light stuff like shakers or tambourines. There are of course examples like Secret of Mana's town theme, but that one also has a very happy vibe to it because of its jumpy melody and cute instrumentation. Generally the instruments are non-threatening in nature. Harsh sounds like electric guitars, heavy drums or deep basses/brass are usually left out to create a more natural, soft mood that doesn't feel too dramatic.
 
The song structure is also usually more predictable, so the player gets the feeling they know the place and there will be no surprises, and they can feel right at home without fearing any threatening dangers or battles.
 
I think those are the main ingredients to create a typical JRPG town theme that fits into all those classic games.

Yeah, I'm not getting "town theme" from this. To me it seems like it could function as a theme of reminiscence, being fairly sad, or a love theme, suggestive of remembrance.
 
When I think "town theme", I imagine something that evokes the idea that it's supposed to be memorable---chimes, flutes, guitar(?), a catchy melody (I know, catchiness might be subjective), etc.---because you'll be coming back to or going through the town pretty often. Another way to say it is that perhaps, you would want to keep coming back to the town in-game just to listen to it. Some of the people above have said that it "makes you feel at home," which, yeah, it should IMO, if it's specifically a "home town" theme.
 
If it feels too "lovey-dovey" though, like what I think this is, it almost but doesn't quite register for me as a town theme, but rather, as a piece about someone missing a loved one or something like that.

I think maybe instrumentation plays into it too. You generally don't hear a lot of brass in town themes unless the town is very specifically a regal kind of castle town. I think that what you've got in Prontera and a lot of Final Fantasy and Tales of town themes is a focus on woodwinds as leads. Maybe oboes, flutes, and clarinets evoke a kind of idyllic feeling?

My take on this is that it doesn't sound like town music.  To me, these kind of songs evoke the feeling of "home".  They evoke a calm, welcoming feeling of coziness which make people think of a homely place.  Since there aren't many games which have themes exclusively for indoor homes or houses, and rather have the town theme playing whether you are inside or outside, then people respond with "town" instead of "house" or "home" when asked where this theme belongs.  
 
To me, this same type of arrangement is used a lot in old sitcoms that were family-friendly.  You could easily put this at the start of a "Growing Pains"-style of sitcom and it would fit right in.  These sitcoms also revolve around being in a house, which most of the time have a welcoming and cozy appearance for the audience.  In trying to identify the musical characteristics that evoke this kind of image in people's mind from this themes we could also analyze the themes used by this kind of sitcoms as well.

Not sure if there's more than the 2 Shovel Knight songs by Eino & me in the queue, but a Shovel Knight mixflood might be cool

How about an FTL flood? 

I'm slowly reviewing and editing my reviews of the album's tracks. I just wanted to post my first impressions.
 
katethegreat19 is above and beyond the standout on the album. "Tribe of the Sandy Treehouse" is by far my favourite track on the album, which is ironic since the source material is my least favourite piece from the OST. Brandon Strader has to be applauded for the contributing three amazing tracks to the album as well.
 
My favourite tracks from first impressions, in no particular order:
Tribe of the Sandy Treehouse
Vamo all Django
Lunar Rebellion
Craic in the Castle Walls
A Rose in the Storm
Spirits of Gaia
Four Score and Six-Eight
Miles and Miles Away
Zero World
Arxidopitra
 
I'll probably post a full review up in a month's time once I've had a good chance to listen to all the tracks properly.

Granted there's like 152 tracks on the soundtrack.  Even if you filter out the ones that were from previous games and recycled tunes, you still might not have enough room.  That being said I kinda wish there was a remix for this: