ectogemia

Come to think of it, I'll add that to my list of VGM that first stuck out to me. Flower Garden has been stuck in my head for like 16 years now.

FF6 and FF7, probably, though I do remember being super young and thinking Double Dragon's and Contra's soundtracks were amazing. But a lot of the early Squaresoft RPGs really stuck out to me, and I remember downloading huge MIDI packs of Squaresoft music back in maybe 1998 or so and listening to everything, even tunes from games I'd never heard of. Definitely my first foray into listening to VGM for its own sake as opposed to listening to it as part of a game.

Here's an early wip of the new game/character creation theme. The Kickstarter video has been updated to include what will probably end up being the title screen theme as the vid's background music. How's it sounding so far? Please respond with $ directed at Bob's Kickstarter fund! Hope you like the tunes so far.

Thanks for posting that. It's just what I needed to hear at the moment, and I agree with it 100%. I've only been making music for just over 2 years now, and although I've come a decently long way in that short period of time, I pretty much always find myself feeling as though my music is lacking in some essential capacity, but it has been lacking less and less the more I listen critically, think critically, and respond to the insights I get from paying attention to what I hear in my music and in others' music. So to offer my own take on the question at hand here, I had very, very little musical ability when I joined OCR and absolutely zero knowledge of production, nor did I have a natural ear for music or production. I spent a ton of time near the beginning improvising on piano (which I played for a few years as a kid, but I *never* did anything except play some sheet music and practice scales -- boring, uncreative "piano lessons" from some lady down the street). That helped me to develop a functional musical ear. Then, I watched a ton of tutorials, talked to a ton of producers who were and are still better than myself, applied what I learned, experimented on my own, and incessantly sought out the theory behind various mixing techniques and acoustics to understand at a fundamental level what I was doing when I turned X knob. That helped immensely, and I still feel and hear my production and musicality improving significantly from track to track, and I credit all of that to being aware all the time of what I'm hearing and considering ways to improve it. If I don't know how to improve what I'm hearing, I ask someone who knows better how to improve it. This mindset doesn't just go for my own music. I listen to Pandora in the car, and I "practice" my theory and production by listening critically to what I'm hearing, noting what I like and dislike, and putting it into practice when I finally get the time to sit down and write. So I would say that I've cultivated 99% of my musical skills in the past 26 months or so. Am I a world-beater? Nope. But I'm definitely not a novice anymore, and I have a pretty solid grasp on what I'm doing most of the time when it comes to theory, composition, and production. No one in my family has any natural musical talent, and I don't believe I have much, either. Hard work, curiosity, not being too proud to ask for help, awareness, and acting on that awareness have been what I've found to be most helpful in overcoming my slow learning curve for music compared to more naturally gifted artists I know. I absolutely believe in talent as that which defines one's rate of progression and, to a lesser degree, one's ceiling, but enough passion and curiosity and persistence can get anyone to be pretty proficient at just about anything they're physically/mentally capable of doing.

Glad I could help! Taking that sort of evolutionary mindset with most physical and even mental issues will very often lead to great results.

Maybe try wearing minimal shoes like Vibram Fivefingers. Big, puffy, modern shoes are pretty biomechanically unstable, and our joints certainly didn't evolve to handle the altered stress distribution they confer to our legs. In fact, before those types of shoes were invented in the 1960s or so, the standard running gait was to land on the ball of the foot first, then fall back to the heel, almost like a prance. It put no undue stress on the ankle, knee, hamstring, gluteal, or lower back regions. Just think about it as a controlled fall. You've heard running described as such before, I'm sure, but a controlled fall would be an inaccurate way to describe running in standard, thick-heeled tennis shoes. Instead, when you wear shoes like that, you tend to strike heel first because the brain tends towards the path of least resistance, so it adjusts your gait to take advantage of the bounce you get from the thick rubber heel. The flipside of that is that if you slam your leg into the ground heel first (doesn't sound like a controlled fall, does it? Sounds more like a "stroke"-based gait), you have a tendency to hyperextend many, many joints and muscles along the back of your leg, hip, and back. It ain't natural. So perhaps it's not your gait or some anatomical issue you have that makes running painful, but instead it could be that you wear shoes which aren't suited to your anatomy or natural gait, and THAT is what is making running painful. If you do go down the minimal shoe route, you'll also need to retrain your gait which doesn't take all that long. Just watch some youtube vids about barefoot running and practice a bit to get it all figured out. It feels amazing to run with a barefoot gait Very effortless compared to a heel-first, forceful gait. Lots more gravity, lots less of Newton's 2nd law. edit: The fact that you only feel comfortable "running" on an elliptical is the smoking gun Get yourself a pair of minimal shoes (or go barefoot on grass!) and run 4 real!

Form is crucial, but there's no need to be absolutely perfect. Go as fast as possible without risking injury. It'll take a while to figure out where that compromise is, so go somewhat slower than "as fast as possible without risking injury" at first. This goes for running sprints, too. For what it's worth, Tabata workouts can be done doing anything, but sprinting is the most common way to implement the method, and most studies are either done on subjects doing running sprints or exercise bike sprints (easier to study physiology on a subject on an exercise bike). They're also only done 2x/week in most studies. So if you're counting, that's 8 minutes of cardio per week, and that's really all you need. It's been shown to be more effective as decreasing resting heart rate and increasing VO2 max (the best direct measure of your cardiovascular health) than 5 45 minutes sessions of traditional jogging each week -- that's 235 minutes. I'll take 8 intense minutes over 235 miserable, injury-prone minutes any day.

This. Try doing 20 seconds of burpees with maximum speed and effort (aka "intensity"), then rest for 10 seconds. Repeat that pattern 8 times total for a 4 minute workout. Dozens of studies dating back to about 2005 or so have been showing that this particular pattern (Tabata-style) of "cardio" is the most efficient and effective known way to train your cardiovascular system. Furthermore, it also stimulates fast-twitch muscle fiber growth by activation of the mTOR signaling system within skeletal muscle cells which is actually inhibited by longer duration, lower intensity jogging. On the other hand, if you're training for ultra-endurance, long runs will be necessary, but keep in mind that the first man ever to run a marathon died immediately thereafter, and people who run marathons continue that proud tradition to this day. So if you run, keep it reasonable and relatively infrequent, but I'd stick to the plan Argle and I are advocating if I were you

Ooook, I'm finally back to the gym after months of healing up this fucking arm D: I dropped from 186 to 153 I'm a skinny shit again, but I'll work just as hard as I did before to get back to where I was. Expecting to be around 175 for MAG. LET'S GET PUMP'D. edit: LET'S GET REALISTIC. Maybe 170 for MAG is a little more reasonable, but we'll see ;o

KICKSTARTER Heeeey guuuyyys. I'm writing the soundtrack for an upcoming, currently playable (but early alpha) sci-fi space roguelike called Approaching Infinity. Explore an infinite universe both by spaceship and on foot Kill pirates. Seriously, fuck those guys. Collect loot Train your crew Craft/buy/salvage new ship components Invade other ships or board mysterious derelict vessels Complete 12 unique quest lines sired by 12 unique alien races Infinite randomized quests Land on planets and decimate the inhabitants Discover hidden treasures, ruins, and civilizations OTHER COOL STUFF NERDY PEOPLE LIKE US LOVE. Want a "free" copy of the soundtrack? Contribute $15 or more! Check out the Kickstarter and see what you think! Please consider sharing the link on facebook, twitter, etc. if roguelikes are your thang. This is gonna become one of the standard roguelikes, I guarantee it. A half-finished version of the first track is available near the end of the Kickstarter video. In case you missed it, Kickstarter. Happy funding!

I can relate to every word of this. When I was younger, it certainly wasn't that way. Exception: I replay games from my childhood. A lot.

Happy birthday, T-master.

OP: think. Capcom approached OCR about doing this album. Capcom is a for-profit entity. OCR is a non-profit entity. In order for a non-profit entity to work with the intellectual property of a for-profit entity, one would figure that some exchanging of money would be involved. When Capcom approaches you to write an album for them, one which involves creating remixes (an OCR tradition!) of a beloved franchise, you don't say no. It's a rare, exciting opportunity. Part of seizing that opportunity is to agree to the necessary and reasonable condition which Capcom set forth: allowing OCR the license to remix their intellectual property for profit for both the artists and the owners. There is nothing wrong with musicians being paid for writing music, and there is especially nothing wrong with the owners of said music granting us permission to remix their awesome tunes, sell them, and give them their due cut. It's disgustingly legal and reasonable.

Lots and lots of awareness when I listen to my own tunes compared to those of others to figure out where I'm lacking seems to be what was most crucial for me. That and distilling my observations gleaned from that process into actionable ways to improve my next track has kept me leveling up consistently ever since I started a couple of years ago. I don't really feel like any one track or moment has been a defining turning point for me. It's just been a gradual improvement from track to track since the get-go. And I agree with Joe that being mindful, always cognizant of what you're hearing whether it's your music or someone else's, is what's most important. You can learn so much by observation and reflection that you can't from frustrated, aimless "doing."

Regarding how to weight chinups/pullups/dips, here's the product I use. Or rather, used to use before my arm got all broken 'n' stuff Cheap, durable, and very comfortable. That's awesome, man! I hope you experience all the benefits of a Paleo-esque lifestyle change that myself and those I've been able to convince have enjoyed. My life can be demarcated sharply as before Paleo and after. It was that significant for me. Your mileage may vary, of course A lot of it is determining which foods work for you and which do not, and that process will take you beyond Paleo's limitations in some ways but preclude some Paleo foods as well. It's a fun, but long, process of self-experimentation. It's really empowering to understand how your own metabolism seems to work. *high five* edit: *whole 5*

Ahahahahhaha. What an awesome picture.

I'm also interested to see what you're eating. Very important point: nutritionist-approved doesn't necessarily mean "good." I know several nutritionists (my wife has a degree in nutrition science, for one), and ehhh... they didn't try too hard in school, and in their own time, they didn't spend much (any?) time reading the current research literature on nutrition to stay up to date as most biomedical/biochemical lectures tend to be at least a decade behind the current prevailing research. And as a member of the medical field, I'll tell you outright that almost no one reads research, probably fewer than 5% of my classmates, and these are the doctors most people rely on for nutritional information D: It's a shit-show of conjecture, assumption, and sometimes pure bullshitting, really, and it's a massive problem in the medical field. Can't say I'd trust the average nutritionist for those reasons, but there's definitely some very, very informed ones out there. Same goes for physicians, dentists, etc. But if you're eating the same things at the same intervals and a nutritionist told you to do this, I'm going to say pretty confidently that the nutritionist is incompetent.

I love you Brandon, but maybe if you trolled less... You live, you learn. Glad there's no animosity, and the message got through as intended, haha. I'm a busy guy, too, and I know things don't just get themselves done. All in good time, I'm sure.

I think something was indeed lost in translation, haha. When I talk about rules 'n' policies and otherwise serious business, my tone gets pretty sterile, and on the internet -- ESPECIALLY on a forum -- sterile, businesslike tones always come across as assy and condescending. That's totally not what I was going for. I was just trying to be matter-of-fact and frank, not the flipside of that, judgmental and blunt. To be totally clear, I'm not upset with any of the administrators of OCR at all about the state of artist promotion. And although we spoke via PM, the goal of putting the opinion on a public forum is *not* for you (djp, Larry, et al.) to see what I have to say (again), but for the rest of the community who is interested in a constructive thread like this one. The goal of stating it publicly is not to incite anything or anyone since I love the community here and think it's awesome that you're looking for ways to improve artist exposure, but rather to raise awareness for what I perceive to be an area where there's room for improvement. By doing so, I think a lot of good ideas will come from people who agree with me, and a good one was already proposed by someone who read what I had to say, so mission accomplished. That's all I was looking to see happen by posting about the matter publicly. I'm not trying to call anyone out, just trying call into question the state of things and get the best solutions to the problem aired by those who are interested or otherwise have a stake in the matter. OCR is good people with a unique goal to glorify the somehow overlooked, amazing subculture of video game music and composers. I'd never shit on someone promoting that subculture which is as important and inspiring to me as it is to you. edit: Yeah, I see what you're saying about the mission statement. OCR wasn't created as a vehicle to promote remixers so much as it was (and is) to promote interest in video game music in general. But now that OCR has grown for nearly a decade since that mission statement was written (I assume), I think the site's promotional powers could be put to use more for the artists who helped to grow it, especially since many of us -- myself included -- are now video game composers, so promoting our music would be in line with the mission statement as it is now. I also stated and wholeheartedly meant that I don't believe it's intentional or malicious. It's just the way things are, and I think change is reasonable in this instance to benefit everyone. By pointing out what I pointed out, I wasn't painting anyone as an enemy or perpetrator, I was stating facts which are... well... facts. And I pointed out what I perceived to be the implications of those facts with respect to traffic and follower generation. Agree or disagree with those implications; that's fine. That's what a healthy debate is all about.

I'm not accusing anyone of any douchebaggery or intentional maliciousness here as self-promotion is necessary and usually innocuous, but I would say very, very confidently that OCR is prioritizing OCR in a description which is > 95% about OCR, regardless of whether or not the remixer's name is included in the top 2 lines (and to be a butt, the artist's name first appears on the 3rd line). And eyes are drawn to links. They're a different color than other text. They're underlined. They're clickable. They lead to more content. OCR knows this because there are six links to various OCR pages surrounding the contributing artist's name. "ReMixer: ectogemia" in the YouTube description does me no good, and I know this because I didn't see a glut of traffic on any of my content hubs, despite garnering 4,000 views on my remix. "ReMixer: ectogemia," however, is a lot more effective. When a friend, artist, contractor, label, YouTube channel, etc. directly links to my content, I *always* receive a glut in traffic and a permanent increase in likes/follows. Simply put, prioritizing someone means putting him/her, first, and although OCR's library is composed entirely of user-driven content, those users are not being prioritized, not being put first. I'm not sure how you could possibly mistake that by looking at the YouTube description's architecture as it is.

Living the dream D:

Yeah, I can do leg work, but I can't comfortably lift the plates to the bar. Plus, I'd feel weird having beefy thighs but a shrunken torso. Gotta stay proportionate. I think in the meantime, I'll focus on sprinting and yoga that doesn't irritate my arm. If I can't be bulky by MAGFest, at least I can be cut

These are all solid recommendations. Fat loss is actually usually quicker with shorter, more intense bursts of activity (to a point) in part because anaerobic metabolism is about 18x less efficient than aerobic metabolism. That lack of efficiency means you burn through stored glycogen and then fat much more quickly during these intense exercise sessions when compared to lolly-gagging, moderate-intensity, aerobic jogging. Kettle-bell work is far more intense than jogging, thus there's more anaerobic metabolism occurring and, consequently, more fat-burning. On the other end of the spectrum from, say, jogging, you have heavy weight lifting which burns through energy more quickly than anything else, but the effort is not sustained, so it isn't really effective for fat loss. Kettle-bell training is a good medium of intensity and duration for fat loss. There are many other reasons for choosing somewhat shorter but more intense methods for fat loss including the insulin sensitization from anaerobic activity, an avoidance of excessive cortisol from prolonged moderate-intensity exercise like jogging, etc., but all that info can be found throughout the thread, gory details and all. In other news, I'm gonna have to cut my return to the gym short D: My arm apparently isn't healed yet. Think I'll get some x-rays soon since the bone is still sore like 3 months later... Sucks. I'm going to be a skinny noodle again when I see you all at MAGFest

One reason some artists I know have "moved on" from OCR -- or perhaps more accurately, have greatly shifted their musical efforts away from OCR contributions -- is because OCR doesn't flex its promotional muscle strongly enough or often enough for its artists. I'm recalling an instance in which OCR promoted a friend's facebook page, and because of that single post, that friend netted over 100 likes in a single day. There's some solid promotional power under OCR's hood, but the gas pedal only gets tapped from time to time, in my opinion. Out of 41 lines in the Youtube video description for a posted remix, only 2 mention the artist who created the remix, and neither of those lines are links to any further content from the artist. That's not even 5% of the description that an artist can rely on for promotion and information about themselves and their music to be communicated to listeners. I don't consider having my name typed somewhere in a wall of text to be promotion at all. The remaining 39 lines are about OCR itself, including links and a description of the site, etc. This seems to lead to a common, depressing Youtube comment motif that OCR is a person, a remixer him/herself, not a community of remixers. When the Animal Crossing remix album I co-wrote was released, we decided to release it outside OCR partly for promotional reasons, and I think that was a good decision because the album ended up being very successful from both a financial and promotional standpoint. All that being said, I've been afforded a lot of great opportunities thanks to OCR, chief among them being your awesomely generous offer to have me aboard on the Capcom-collab Mega Man anniversary album which was really a dream opportunity as a fan and composer. I just think OCR needs to become more artist-centric rather than OCR-centric if there's a growing concern about major or frequent contributors "moving on" from the community.

P90X is not geared much towards muscle-building, no, contrary to their claims. The people in the commercials were already muscular. Their 90 day transformation is nothing but a typical weight cut which all lifters undergo after a bulking cycle. They just shed the fat covering their muscles due in part to P90X's cardio.