timaeus222   Members

I can hear the Pentatonix influence so damn hard in this one, and the bass is sick as hell! Funky, catchy, and arranged well enough to weave the source materials in and out seamlessly, there is just a lot of superb quality coming out of this song. Awesome ReMix, man!

Wow, what a feel on this piece! Stay for 0:50+ and you won't be disappointed at the way this evolves and feels. Reminds me of the happiest tunes out of Final Fantasy I, almost - a kind of hopeful belief with a tinge of adventure. The warmth in this performance and presentation is what really sells me here. So happy you made it to the finish line - well done both of you!!

I vaguely recall a super-early version of this from the old project forums. God, was it that long ago?
It's been a long time time since the album came out, and I always wished we could have had even more music on it. But it's nice to have a really good pokémon remix every so often. And this one will do nicely.

Quoted for truth & emphasis. This was far from the bar, Brett, but don't be discouraged and keep on learning. You have some decent sounds, but others were much more abrasive. Melodically, this didn't go in many creative directions although the attempt was made to personalize the sound palette. Dynamically, the energy levels were pretty steady/flat most of the way, so this didn't progress in much of a meaningful arc, though you did have a nice subtraction-based finish to at least have some dynamic contrast toward the end.

1) Use our Workshop forums like Nutritious mentioned
2) Do what you can to ensure your instrumentation isn't grating; and
3) Consider other aspects of arrangement like more variations in the tempo, rhythm, and melody, and adding in original sections or countermelodies.
NO

Yeah, I'm pretty much in agreement with MW's comments above, but will try to give some additional thoughts.  The intro starts out pretty interesting to set the mood.  However, beyond that, the track is never able to click together.  
The kick sounds more like a muffled, reverbed bass drum than an electronic click, so it never cuts through and sounds out of place.  I'm not big on hoover bass synths (that's the name for those, right??), but I know they can work in certain contexts, so not sure how to advise you there.  The rest of the sounds, in general, sound sort of "out of the box" both with their tones and some of the effects used on them and don't work to compliment each other.  I'll also second that with pushing the volume levels, the track starts getting overcompressed and distorted at times.
It sounds like you're probably somewhat new to remixing, so I wanted to share a few tips that really helped me starting out:
1. Don't give up
2. *** Don't get too attached to a particular idea or remix attempt at the start - lay stuff aside and try something new.  This will allow you to get more experience under your belt rather than spinning your wheels on a single song.
3. Spend some quality time on the WIP board - not only putting your songs out, but listening and analyzing other songs as well.  What makes them work.
You've clearly got some interesting ideas and a grasp on the basics of music making.  Now it's time to hone your craft.
NO

Ok, the intro (Edit: I don't even remember what I was writing here, so I'll just leave it at that :D)
Wow, :20 really works well with vocals complimenting the track.  Enjoyed the tongue-in-cheek lyrics treatment.  Love the overall groove and feel of this. Breakdown at 1:00 was an excellent change-up.  
1:33 volume level suddenly jumped a bit too high compared to previous section, though i'm not sure why.  It ducks beneath the lyrics a few seconds later anyway, so not sure what was going on with that.  2:30 again felt like it got a bit on the loud side with leads cutting a bit too much for what I'd prefer to hear.  Happens a couple more times with lead synths in the last :45 or so as well.
Arrangement is on point here.  I found the OST forgettable when playing the game, but you've done something special with it, here.  Let's go.
YES

Really sorry to semi-necro this thread, but i can't not reply to this and hate that i didn't see it sooner...
@Sixto, the first OCR i ever heard was "Wicked Six". I was a huge fan of instrumental guitarists such as Satriani, Vai, John 5 etc, so it went straight to my heart. Before i heard that remix, i had never heard of a DAW and i had zero ambition in life. I had no clue what i wanted to strive to be. Listening to YOUR work turned a page in my life where i knew i wanted to become a part of this community and be involved in sound in some way as a career. I was absolutely BLOWN AWAY by the talent i heard from youself and others, and damn do i wish i could shred like you. Well. here i am, finally about to submit my own Castlevania remix (which i believe to be my most impressive work so far) and i was using YOUR track as reference along the way. On top of that i'm close to getting a University degree in an audio field, something that i never thought i'd be intelligent or ambitous enough to obtain. Believe me, your music (yes YOUR music) is making a difference to people, a huge difference! I'd listen to your version of "I'll Go" any day over the original because to me your vision is significantly better overall. It's one of my most played YouTube videos. I even modded it into Smash Bros Brawl haha. And i've never even played Tales of Symphonia, so your version stands on its own without any nostalgia goggles propping it up!
Keep rocking, bro!

@Phonetic Hero, i've finally got round to watching the 8bit Music Theory channel recommended! Holy shit! This guy's amazing! One of the biggest problems i've had with theory was not being able to truly understand it's application in writing. I'm supporting this guy! First channel i've ever supported!

With the go ahead from @djpretzel, I waited until their OCRemix Panel was complete this past Saturday at MAGFest where they would premiere this exclusive preview of this album: Arcadia Legends! Now that the MAGFest panel is over, it is time to unveil the trailer to the rest of you who didn't make it to MAGFest this year! Hopefully you all enjoy the sneak peek soundbytes in this trailer and get hyped. For those who were on the fence of contributing to it, guess what? We still got a few more tracks left to claim! By all means, shoot us a note and we can get things started! We're almost to the end!
Kudos to my co-director Modus for building off the base trailer I had created and making a fantastic version of it!

Huzzah and Happy New Year everyone! Guess what? As of this morning, @pu_freak just submitted his finished track, which bumps us up to 24 tracks total out of 36. You know what this means? We are 2 CDs down of 3 CDs total of album music! We have only 12 more left to complete! Of those 12, 3 almost done, 2 being worked on, 3 awaiting word from their remixers for a WIP and 4 unclaimed. We are nearly there! Let's make this final push! 

Answered. Protip for other projects: decide where to manage the project. We're spread across too many platforms, including but not limited to AIM, Facebook, ocr PMs, this thread, email, and Discord. Despite my attempts to consolidate communication, that is.
I'm currently picking tracks for the release flood. I have about 30 flood track candidates. It's a few too many. This is a problem I never foresaw.

We're open to posting things like this, but it would take quite a long time to post. If the issues that I brought up in here were enough to sway votes to a NO, it would take some time for the panel to reach that decision (possibly even years), by which point the artist will likely have moved on, dejected. Even with an unanimous YES vote it would definitely sit on the panel for some time prior to posting (longer than the average track). This potential issue is what the submission standards is alluding to when they warn "Anything longer [than seven minutes] and evaluation may be delayed."
It's not impossible to post, nor does OCR reject tracks based purely on length. However, very long, complex tracks take much longer to review and submit than many short songs of equivalent length - that's just how a human volunteer panel on things like this works. I've got to keep it real on this front, since it does no one any good to say such a long track won't hit some bumps in the road upon submission solely due to it's breadth. Hopefully, some of my advice averts these particular issues.  

Man, I'm not that familiar with the source but this is wonderful! The command of the soundscape is fantastic, and the interplay of the simple melody and the complicated backgrounds (particularly at 1:50-2:05) is nothing less than a delight. Bonus points for the rebuild from 3:00-3:48, where the play with the melody is nothing short of wonderful. The skills of this remixer are on full display here. Loved it!

https://www.twitch.tv/videos/211547197 for the majority of the listening party (the chat is saved as well) 
https://www.twitch.tv/videos/211561595 had to restart the stream so here's the last couple tunes. 

Hello ladies and gentle peoples!
After months of work and lots of pestering, the latest An OverClocked Christmas is done and ready for downloading. Featuring a record-breaking 15 remixes of Christmas carols and VGM, it's got many different moods and genres covered. R&B, Jazzy, Orchestral, Metal... that and more are present. So with a big thanks to everyone who stepped up and submitted a remix, and to Dyne for continuing to host the files, feel free to go ahead and download the finished product that we all slaved over for you
http://williammichael.info/aocc/aoccv11.htm
Enjoy everyone. And of course, Merry Christmas!
Edit: Looks like Dyne got the official website updated, so I've changed the link. Thanks Dyne

To be honest future bass has a wide range of styles within itself that's really impossible to tell you "go do X for future bass".  It depends on the artist and the sound you're going for. One thing I've noticed is somewhat common is the 85-90 bpm range, and the gated 1/8 chords.  As for synths, if you want it to be aggressive, stack your saws, big chords, underlying bass doesn't matter much since texture will be lost.  For stuff that's a bit more calm you'll have to be subtler with the synth choice for your chords.  Drum structure usually follows the chord rhythm usiing the kick and snare.
My recommendation would be to just listen to the type of future bass you want to make and extract the elements by yourself.  That's how different styles within a genre are sometimes born.

What about OCRMX?

Is it any surprise that I still give my consent explicitly?

Pretty much my thoughts on this one.  The piano velocities can be an issue at times, and I think more could've been done to add subtlety to the performance, but the transformation and changes on the melody lines carried by it is what mostly makes this remix unique.  I was fine with the arrangement's dynamics, I think the energy levels drop/rise enough throughout the track, which is very chill in nature and doesn't really need huge peaks and cliffs in mood.  On the production side things are clear, while the mix has a bit of a cold and dry feel to it sometimes, it's not something that brings the whole thing down for me.  The sax section was... not very good.  The tremolo was a bit excessive IMO, but the sax has a very short stay here.
Overall I think this is close but over the bar for me.
YES (borderline)

Pretty unique approach to this theme; every time you think you've heard it all with "Aquatic Ambiance," you get something like this. The way the source tune was referenced throughout was very creative, IMO, with lots of subtle plays to the melody and main motifs, but other instruments getting in references to it as well while doing their own thing.
The piano's got a blocky quality to it that would be nicer if that wasn't the case, but it was serviceable and the piano sound had enough of a tail to it where it had some body. Gario's not wrong to criticize it, but his votes hinges on the sound being more problematic than I thought it was.
The sax programming at 2:36-3:27 also could have been problematic -- the effect on it made a unique sound that was disarming at first -- but, instead, it offers something distinct to the sound. Nice job layering it with the synth at 3:08 as well.
Dynamically, there could have been more distinct drops in the energy, but what's here still works within a narrower dynamic curve. Smooth beats and a novel way to personalize the theme. Nice work, Damon!
YES

Nice and smooth.  I'm glad you submitted this; it has more fun with the melody than any other Aquatic Ambiance remix I've heard before.  The piano is pretty mechanical, but it's not a dealbreaker for me despite how prominent it is, and I don't have any other concerns.  I can see other judges maybe having an objection to it, but I have no problems giving this a
YES

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

In general, yes.  The idea with the dummy instruments is laying down the harmonic foundation and figuring out how the track will progress on a larger scale.  I'm not looking to find the perfect instruments at that point, just figuring out what chords I want to use and probably chunking out some melodies to be molded as I go (it's almost never perfect the first time, so iterate!).  It can be easy to get overwhelmed by feeling like you have to make all the right choices right off the bat.  So don't!  Don't worry about it until you've put down the basic notes you want.  Instrumentation/orchestration and voice leading can come later.
If this is still difficult, I recommend simplifying even further.  Try writing chiptunes and imposing most, if not all, of the limitations of the hardware on yourself.  If you can't/don't want to emulate things exactly, that's fine!  Remember, the goal is to get more comfortable with laying down notes and get a feel for structuring a track, not to write a perfect chiptune.  By purposely limiting your options for production and instrumentation, you'll have a much clearer focus on the composition and an easier time learning about harmonic relationships.

That was a great comment, man! Thanks so much for that! It's made me feel more human and less broken. I always feel guilty if i'm not working on something, and i always assume that it's because i'm lacking passion/it's not for me. But there are just some days where i really don't want to sit in my box room for hours. That YT channel looks like something that could be very helpful too, so i'll be sure to check it out.
What you said about adding a dummy wave to test things in your projects, that's something i'm going to really have to wrap my head around. See, i've being studying in more of a sound design focused field, so i've always put the sound itself over the composition. I find it hard to imagine how a musical passage could eventually sound if i was to make it enitrely out of pianos or simple waveforms. Is a triangle wave enough to let you know that it will sound good no matter what suitable instrumentation or synth patch is used in the end?

If you're having trouble focusing your learning process, I can relate - I have minimal formal theory training as well, and it can be especially hard to know where to start when you don't really know terms.  Here's the resource that's helped me the most lately: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCeZLO2VgbZHeDcongKzzfOw/videos
If you're having issues with composition specifically, I'd particularly recommend any of his videos that talk about utilizing motifs.  There's a Dark Souls vid and a Zelda: Link's Awakening vid that talk about motif use and transformation pretty thoroughly, and it's really made a huge impact on my writing lately.
Aside from that, the best recommendation I have is to transcribe.  A lot.  Even from your own tracks.  If you find a chord progression you really like, throw down a dummy instrument (my go-to is a simple triangle wave), write it out and examine it isolated.  Or if you like the interplay the chords had with the melody, put down another dummy for the lead and look at the relationships between the two.  When you find something you like, even if it's from someone else's work, try emulating it.  Don't feel bad about borrowing elements from music that inspires you, especially when you're learning something new!  Adding techniques to your repertoire will make you a much more effective composer when it comes time to write to a client's specs, and I find that the more comfortable you get with a new trick/technique (even if it's "borrowed"), the easier it is to implement it into a track with your own spin to make it sound more unique.  It's not necessary to rediscover every composition technique for yourself, only that you can use it effectively.
The chord/lead dummies also translate into my own originals and arrangements, not just transcription.  Blocking out a new section can help you determine how well it flows with the preceding material, and it really helps me avoid wasting time fleshing out an entire section only to find it won't work structurally.
I also have to echo Timaeus that if it's possible, make at least a little time for music stuff almost every day, whether it's starting a new tune, transcribing one of your favorite game tunes, or making a new synth patch.  But don't beat yourself up if you miss a day and definitely take a day or two off if you need it.  The mind needs time away from conscious processing to recombine novel information and let what you've learned solidify.  It functions a lot like a muscle; overtraining is more detrimental than it might seem on the surface, so if you find that it's too stressful doing X number of days per week, back it off a bit and make sure to focus on enjoying the process.  Maybe even just pick a few days of the week to purposely be away from music, or schedule out what you want to work on for which days - it's the consistency that's most important rather than the sheer quantity of time you spend with music.
Hope that's helpful

Is it any surprise that I still give my consent explicitly?