DarkSim

Don't forget the awesome "April is Support OCR Month" - even though the music and site is free, the community donated over $7,500 last year to keep it running. I was surprised and felt a nice warm feeling last year when I saw that total! OCR, and by extension, VGM is obviously very important to a lot of people and not just a nerdy hobby.

Combination of the two for me - I'll have the backing playing on loop and noodle around until I play something that sounds good, then I'll fine tune it. I just don't have the musicianship to be able to crack out a Jimmy Page epic out of nothing.

Great guide zircon - I'd been layering samples before, but never really thought of actually TUNING them. Makes a big difference!

On the right of the screen there's a "Report Copyright Infringement" link - fill out the form and you're all good

Well you dropped me as well man..!

Deadline May 7... excellent, I'll try and put something together!

Thanks for weighing in there Bahamut, good to know that this kind of thing will be handled differently in future. If I could get onto IRC atm I'd be there. DCT, yeah I know the site promotes VGM as an art form, and it does it well. The issues with this campaign were that all it was promoting was the "Like" button on Facebook, which comes across as annoying and cheap.

This right here is what this is about. I wasn't going to say anything, but then I saw that a lot of other people (it's not a few - I'm pretty sure if you polled the forums or facebook, you'd find that a significant number of people oppose this "Like" business) don't agree with this either. You say that you had misgivings, but then just let it go and now you just accept it? Well if that isn't a metaphor for life... That last sentence reads like something a religious missionary would say, which is especially worrying. What is this site's mission? Who is this site? Is it a community or is it unilaterally overruled by mods? The community is speaking out on this issue, please listen to them.

There are actually some very good points being raised in this thread about social media marketing. The fact that it involves people to spread the word, and a lot of people don't like doing this, is a cause for concern that doesn't seem to be being addressed, possibly due to emotional involvement in the site and/or album in question. What some people are failing to understand is that a lot of people don't take kindly to being told to share or tell people they should like things. Again, I don't care if this was or wasn't the intention, but this is how it comes across. For me, the strength of OCR is its quality, which speaks for itself. By having such stringent quality controls, and already a strong fanbase, there shouldn't be a need to resort to these sorts of tactics, which come across as cheapening the site. I understand the desire to have as many people appreciate what we do as composers, remixers and contributors to the site, but it's way easier to get people to do things if you give them something first, then ask them to tell their friends, not the other way around.

If this campaign doesn't affect the release of the album, then why does it say the album will be released once OCR gets 27k likes? I think you've answered your own question on clarity. As for aggressive, then if you've liked the page already, then it's up to you to go and harass your friends to like the page, which is, in my view, aggressive. Since when did this become about perceived popularity, and not about DA MUSIK?!

The trouble is though Larry, is if you frame the campaign in this way, that's exactly what people will draw - assumptions - and that's exactly why people are confused and annoyed that a site they love, and know how it works, has decided to proceed in this way. The trouble with forum discussions is that people get lost in quoting wars and the real issues get lost, the issues here being it's an unclear and seemingly aggressive and unfair marketing campaign. I understand it's well intentioned, and I love this site as much as anyone, which is why I'm trying to point out why this is a bad idea. Once again, the only purpose a campaign like this serves is to alienate the fans on the fringe of the community by seemingly forcing them into something they don't want to do. That is why there has been a backlash.

So if it gets 27,000 likes tomorrow, it still won't be released? Another reason this campaign is misguided. I hope lessons will be learnt from this thread, if nothing else. There's a lot of valuable insight here into the "people behind the numbers". Remember, a community is nothing without its members, and not listening to concerns over strategies like this one may come back to bite later on.

Well well well, I saw this thread title and thought "Yeah, what's up with this weird advertising push?", so I started reading and... yeah. Firstly I'll state that I'm really not bothered about hearing this album, as I never played a Mega Man game, so it's not something I'm looking forward to (DKC3, however...). Hopefully that can provide some objectivity to the situation. Here's my take on it. I have an old schoolfriend on Facebook who is in a band, and is CONSTANTLY doing stuff like this, albeit on a much smaller scale (his band has about 250 likes). It started small, but now has become like an obsession, and I get at least 1 of these "share and like our page!" posts DAILY. It's increasingly irritating, and as much as I like the guy, it actually makes me want to turn off status updates from him because I'm oversaturated with "information". I fear this is where this campaign will end up, as do many people posting voicing their concerns. I must say, I agree with a lot of what Calatia has said, and I think it speaks volumes that there are many new or less-posted forum members voicing their opinions (jivjov, and the OP, among others) on this matter. These "new", or rather, silent majority of users are PRECISELY THE TARGET AUDIENCE OF THIS CAMPAIGN. Everyone well-established in the community already links their music to their friends, and has a pretty small window of influence left. The users this campaign wants to "Like" the page are the ones who periodically check the site but don't want to be oversaturated with information. This has the negative effect of polarising the community and alienating the "casual fans" who just like to drop in now and again. Like me and my friend's band - I no longer really care if he releases a new track, because I gloss over the posts in my news feed. Social media is fantastic for promotion, but it's not to be used as a blunt instrument. The exposure OCRemix enjoys at the moment is organic, healthy growth fuelled largely by the excellent work done by the staff at ensuring its presence is felt on social media, without being overbearing. Not to mention the enjoyment people get from sharing released remixes they've enjoyed with their friends. As soon as growth starts to become fuelled by frenzied link-spamming (for something that isn't even out yet), it separates the fanbase into those hardcore who promote it relentlessly, and the large silent majority get fed up and go elsewhere. It also leads to frustration for those who already like the page, and feel they can't do any more to help because, like anything, it's often very hard to find people that will blindly like a page that haven't already. Don't forget - even if you like a page, you can still unsubscribe to updates, so it's a false positive. Of course no ill will was intended from this campaign, but given the current (relatively small, but valid) backlash, wouldn't it be prudent to re-evaluate this strategy, and at the very least, reduce the target number?

It just says "discouraged", so I'm sure if you made a godlike chiptune-only mix it'd have a chance at passing.

This thread kinda sounds stalkerish

FFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUU....... I'm away for a month so can't join in, would have loved to compete though! Good luck to those who do and I'll be following this thread

http://soundcloud.com/darksim Mostly finished tracks, including OCR submissions, originals and mashups

Some of you will have seen this guy already, but for those who haven't, take a look at one of the most insanely talented pianists I've ever seen. The way he improvises after sight-reading the music just blows my mind. This is one of his best ones, the , but there are plenty on the related videos from Zelda and Mario, and his Animaniacs one is pretty sick too!

It's got almost a happy hardcore feel to it when the melody really kicks in, but I agree you should definitely tweak the melody around a bit yourself. Make it more original. Try out some new chords underneath it as well, or make up a bridge section. I also think some dynamic changes would be welcome - it's all a bit frantic sounding, with no part to catch your breath in the middle. Mixing wise, the kick is hugely prominent, but the backing becomes pretty muddy during the busy sections, so try some more mixing on the next rendition and clean it up a bit.

Happy Birthday Emu!

Flexstyle showed me this awesome open-source Worms clone, and the bamboo/jungle theme was ripe for the remixing. http://soundcloud.com/darksim/hogs-of-war What you reckon?

Hooray for under-represented games being remixed! And the Turbografx as well? Bonus points The intro to this is great! I was expecting some more 80s style synth rock, but then it kinda dries up and the synth you have going throughout is pretty cheesy! Definitely change that, as well as trying a few different synths within the song. The drums could use some beefing up, as could the guitar. There's some nice scratching effects in there that could stand being much louder as well! You already know it's pretty sparse so I'm sure you'll sort that out later, but for a start, it's pretty decent. Try and get more of it to sound like the intro, and I think it'll turn out nicely!

Hadyn's orchestral remix of this source reminded me of this remix, so I just thought I'd drop in and say this is incredible, and you should check it out if you haven't already!

Giving this a first listen at version 4 - sounds pretty tight at the moment, however it seems to be lacking something. For a start, it's got a real "concert hall" feel, which is probably what you were going for, but it kinda sounds like there's a little too much reverb on things. At times the soundscape feels very flat, without too many highs, and things aren't downright muddy, but they're also not as clear as they could be. The drums I'm torn on. The kit is nice, however I think some of the patterns are a bit boring towards the end, and could pack significantly more of a punch by using more open hats and a more dynamic kick and snare pattern. At the moment it sounds more like a canter than a gallop, if you get me! The final chorus is also pretty flat - it sounds like it's been copy/pasted from the previous one, so doesn't really give it that climactic feel, and the ending notes sound pretty rushed. With the final notes, you can go off time and slow it right down, get some high attack on that final note and then come in for a big orchestral hit (timpani rolls leading up to it?) to finish on a higher note, rather than the downer it ends on now (bit strange to end on that note after such a happy song). Hopefully that gives you some clear points to work on and improve!

Hokay, so, let's have a listen! Sounds smoother overall, but there are still some rough edges that need ironing out on the production side. Still not too convinced about those bells at the start, sorry! They just sound a little exposed as they are. Some more reverb or less bitcrushing, or a different method of distortion could work better. The choir at the end could do with a longer release, as it stops abruptly (easy fix). The bass from the organ (did you add a high-cut filter?) is quite loud, I just did a frequency analysis in Audacity and it looks like it's around 500Hz. There's a gaping hole in the spectrum for the rest of the song though after the organ disappears, that could probably be filled by something else, maybe a return of the organ, or some other pad. The bass lacks a lot of power - is the kick overwhelming it? Try and boost the frequency of the kick at around 100Hz and cut it from the bass at 100Hz if it's being troublesome. Other than that, I love the new melodies you've incorporated, and the soundscape works well - it's got a very floaty, uplifting feel to it. Keep working at it!