AngelCityOutlaw

All that I remember of XII is that it had sexy rabbit women; I thought it was Disney and Playboy's job to make me attracted to rabbits? It's just wrong.
Anyway, 
I dunno, A/Bing them I wouldn't really say that the re-orchestrated soundtrack is as dramatically better as you're hoping for.
In fact, I'd go as far to say "Battle With An Esper" actually sounds worse.

So the first thing that jumps out at me is that the piano has a number of harsh resonances that are hurting my ears. Just do a sweep with a paratmetric EQ with the Q set high and lower the offending sounds when you find them.
Listening onward this is actually happening with a lot of the sounds.
The horns are way too loud and if realism is what you're going for, there is no way some of those elements (I think I hear a harp?) would be very audible with brass playing at the kind of dynamic. By the way, forte or louder is actually not played that often in most orchestral pieces. Especially for this tune, I'd keep the horns/brass at a more "choral" kind of dynamic except toward the end. They also seem to crescendo way too much and too sharply. To demonstrate what I mean, here is a good example of brass writing; in a chase scene, no less.
Aside from when it's just the section by itself, the brass are generally playing at a lower dynamic suitable for the other instrumentation.
I'm not sure what you're using for samples, but the strings especially sound noticeably fake.
Toward the end, the arrangement gets pretty cluttered and I can't clearly hear all the different lines. The harp, lower brass, celli, trumpets, high strings, etc. all sound like at least some of the time they're overlapping frequencies and it muddies the arrangement.
I'm not familiar with the source, so I can't really comment on how faithful or not it is, etc. I saw you posted the link, but tbh it doesn't matter to me if it is or not; I'd rather just listen to the remix and crit but overall, I'd say it's not a bad first remix.
 

Oh yeah and, of course — feel free to monetize my stuff with Tim.
and forthcoming things.

Oh yeah and, of course — feel free to monetize my stuff with Tim.
and forthcoming things.

Between Voltron, new Star Trek and Blade Runner, it felt mandatory for me to take a stab at a classic sci-fi theme.
 
 

The thing is, those other choices aren't as attractive options.
While it's true that like I said, OCR isn't the end-all-be-all of VGM remixing and that a lowered bar wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a hobbyist website, it is by far and away the VGM community — a very niche thing btw — that cares the most about what it does and I think this is mostly thanks to being somewhat of a "gated community" as you describe it.
An anecdote that I think demonstrates this, I very recently managed to get offered a deal with a new production music company. That's a great example of a "gated community" in music as many don't generally accept unsolicited submissions at all. Sure, I COULD have gone to AudioJungle or something like that (which I think only recently added some sort of quality control) where library-music composers go to die and have my tracks buried among a sea of others, BUT this way I'm among people who are pros at what they do, can and will give me real advice because they and their clients demand a certain standard from them, they have connections that can get placements in stuff that people will actually enjoy, you have people representing you across the world, etc. and your odds at success are a lot better than if it was just you out there in the wilds — alone.
Now you might say, "Yeah, but that's about music for money and OCR isn't about that!" To which I say, ignore the $ aspect and you'll see it's the same thing — a somewhat exclusive community creates opportunity and is a more enjoyable experience.
OCR is the only VGM community I am aware of who: Hosts panels at things like MAGfest, puts out multi-disc albums of remixes for free, has had numerous of its users go on to become professional composers; has what easily amounts to thousands of hours of music from nearly 20 years back available on YouTube, with millions of plays total, each one DJP has written a mini essay on, and all for $0.00; launched its own record label, collaborated with Capcom to produce the first official fan-made community Megaman album; it supported the development of the definitive VGM virtual instrument, developed by community members; and about *ten years ago, they made the first entirely fanmade soundtrack to a video game.
This is only made possible by having a power structure of some kind. While it's true that OCR is a gated community, they are always willing to let people in. Everywhere else? It's either an open floodgate or the gate is electrified.
*OMFG I was 16 when this came out and was before I actually discovered the community. Holy shit, I'm getting old fast.

As can we all
I know what you mean.
I was a "Jack of all trades" type, but the problem was is that it's really expensive to get all the instruments or good virtual instruments to do a lot of different genres and there is a lot of esoteric knowledge involved in producing any kind of music. As such, I cheaped out on a lot of things and never spent enough time trying to get really good at anything in particular and I definitely paid for it...I'm also just never satisfied with my guitar sound and my passion for the instrument and metal music has died out, so I just play guitar for fun now and only occasionally feel like listening to rock.
I spent the last year and some change working on improving my skills with composing contrapuntally, orchestration, cinematic sound design and buying quality libraries. As of one month ago, I at last have a template that I'm really happy with and it can easily play anything I throw at it and it sounds great. 
I may not be able to compose every genre of music, but what I can do I have a lot of fun with and always feel inspired to compose more and while those VSTis may have made my wallet cry, it really is awesome not having to surrender so many musical ideas to the mercy of mediocre samples. 

The thing is, those other choices aren't as attractive options.
While it's true that like I said, OCR isn't the end-all-be-all of VGM remixing and that a lowered bar wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a hobbyist website, it is by far and away the VGM community — a very niche thing btw — that cares the most about what it does and I think this is mostly thanks to being somewhat of a "gated community" as you describe it.
An anecdote that I think demonstrates this, I very recently managed to get offered a deal with a new production music company. That's a great example of a "gated community" in music as many don't generally accept unsolicited submissions at all. Sure, I COULD have gone to AudioJungle or something like that (which I think only recently added some sort of quality control) where library-music composers go to die and have my tracks buried among a sea of others, BUT this way I'm among people who are pros at what they do, can and will give me real advice because they and their clients demand a certain standard from them, they have connections that can get placements in stuff that people will actually enjoy, you have people representing you across the world, etc. and your odds at success are a lot better than if it was just you out there in the wilds — alone.
Now you might say, "Yeah, but that's about music for money and OCR isn't about that!" To which I say, ignore the $ aspect and you'll see it's the same thing — a somewhat exclusive community creates opportunity and is a more enjoyable experience.
OCR is the only VGM community I am aware of who: Hosts panels at things like MAGfest, puts out multi-disc albums of remixes for free, has had numerous of its users go on to become professional composers; has what easily amounts to thousands of hours of music from nearly 20 years back available on YouTube, with millions of plays total, each one DJP has written a mini essay on, and all for $0.00; launched its own record label, collaborated with Capcom to produce the first official fan-made community Megaman album; it supported the development of the definitive VGM virtual instrument, developed by community members; and about *ten years ago, they made the first entirely fanmade soundtrack to a video game.
This is only made possible by having a power structure of some kind. While it's true that OCR is a gated community, they are always willing to let people in. Everywhere else? It's either an open floodgate or the gate is electrified.
*OMFG I was 16 when this came out and was before I actually discovered the community. Holy shit, I'm getting old fast.

The thing is, those other choices aren't as attractive options.
While it's true that like I said, OCR isn't the end-all-be-all of VGM remixing and that a lowered bar wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a hobbyist website, it is by far and away the VGM community — a very niche thing btw — that cares the most about what it does and I think this is mostly thanks to being somewhat of a "gated community" as you describe it.
An anecdote that I think demonstrates this, I very recently managed to get offered a deal with a new production music company. That's a great example of a "gated community" in music as many don't generally accept unsolicited submissions at all. Sure, I COULD have gone to AudioJungle or something like that (which I think only recently added some sort of quality control) where library-music composers go to die and have my tracks buried among a sea of others, BUT this way I'm among people who are pros at what they do, can and will give me real advice because they and their clients demand a certain standard from them, they have connections that can get placements in stuff that people will actually enjoy, you have people representing you across the world, etc. and your odds at success are a lot better than if it was just you out there in the wilds — alone.
Now you might say, "Yeah, but that's about music for money and OCR isn't about that!" To which I say, ignore the $ aspect and you'll see it's the same thing — a somewhat exclusive community creates opportunity and is a more enjoyable experience.
OCR is the only VGM community I am aware of who: Hosts panels at things like MAGfest, puts out multi-disc albums of remixes for free, has had numerous of its users go on to become professional composers; has what easily amounts to thousands of hours of music from nearly 20 years back available on YouTube, with millions of plays total, each one DJP has written a mini essay on, and all for $0.00; launched its own record label, collaborated with Capcom to produce the first official fan-made community Megaman album; it supported the development of the definitive VGM virtual instrument, developed by community members; and about *ten years ago, they made the first entirely fanmade soundtrack to a video game.
This is only made possible by having a power structure of some kind. While it's true that OCR is a gated community, they are always willing to let people in. Everywhere else? It's either an open floodgate or the gate is electrified.
*OMFG I was 16 when this came out and was before I actually discovered the community. Holy shit, I'm getting old fast.

The thing is, those other choices aren't as attractive options.
While it's true that like I said, OCR isn't the end-all-be-all of VGM remixing and that a lowered bar wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing for a hobbyist website, it is by far and away the VGM community — a very niche thing btw — that cares the most about what it does and I think this is mostly thanks to being somewhat of a "gated community" as you describe it.
An anecdote that I think demonstrates this, I very recently managed to get offered a deal with a new production music company. That's a great example of a "gated community" in music as many don't generally accept unsolicited submissions at all. Sure, I COULD have gone to AudioJungle or something like that (which I think only recently added some sort of quality control) where library-music composers go to die and have my tracks buried among a sea of others, BUT this way I'm among people who are pros at what they do, can and will give me real advice because they and their clients demand a certain standard from them, they have connections that can get placements in stuff that people will actually enjoy, you have people representing you across the world, etc. and your odds at success are a lot better than if it was just you out there in the wilds — alone.
Now you might say, "Yeah, but that's about music for money and OCR isn't about that!" To which I say, ignore the $ aspect and you'll see it's the same thing — a somewhat exclusive community creates opportunity and is a more enjoyable experience.
OCR is the only VGM community I am aware of who: Hosts panels at things like MAGfest, puts out multi-disc albums of remixes for free, has had numerous of its users go on to become professional composers; has what easily amounts to thousands of hours of music from nearly 20 years back available on YouTube, with millions of plays total, each one DJP has written a mini essay on, and all for $0.00; launched its own record label, collaborated with Capcom to produce the first official fan-made community Megaman album; it supported the development of the definitive VGM virtual instrument, developed by community members; and about *ten years ago, they made the first entirely fanmade soundtrack to a video game.
This is only made possible by having a power structure of some kind. While it's true that OCR is a gated community, they are always willing to let people in. Everywhere else? It's either an open floodgate or the gate is electrified.
*OMFG I was 16 when this came out and was before I actually discovered the community. Holy shit, I'm getting old fast.

Honestly, you seem to have a great many of grand plans, but none pan out — just my observation. 
Perhaps you should take a moment to consider that the legal hurdles and the costs involved in producing a CD of video game remixes when no one even buys CDs anymore is a lofty goal that should maybe not be pursued further.
I also don't see why one would want to do this when OCR produces FF albums pretty regularly that get tons of promotion, lots of listeners, etc. Why not just get on one of those or try and start up one?
So yes, I think you're going about it the wrong way and dreaming to big compared to what you've proven you can do. Start small.
 

As can we all
I know what you mean.
I was a "Jack of all trades" type, but the problem was is that it's really expensive to get all the instruments or good virtual instruments to do a lot of different genres and there is a lot of esoteric knowledge involved in producing any kind of music. As such, I cheaped out on a lot of things and never spent enough time trying to get really good at anything in particular and I definitely paid for it...I'm also just never satisfied with my guitar sound and my passion for the instrument and metal music has died out, so I just play guitar for fun now and only occasionally feel like listening to rock.
I spent the last year and some change working on improving my skills with composing contrapuntally, orchestration, cinematic sound design and buying quality libraries. As of one month ago, I at last have a template that I'm really happy with and it can easily play anything I throw at it and it sounds great. 
I may not be able to compose every genre of music, but what I can do I have a lot of fun with and always feel inspired to compose more and while those VSTis may have made my wallet cry, it really is awesome not having to surrender so many musical ideas to the mercy of mediocre samples. 

Honestly, you seem to have a great many of grand plans, but none pan out — just my observation. 
Perhaps you should take a moment to consider that the legal hurdles and the costs involved in producing a CD of video game remixes when no one even buys CDs anymore is a lofty goal that should maybe not be pursued further.
I also don't see why one would want to do this when OCR produces FF albums pretty regularly that get tons of promotion, lots of listeners, etc. Why not just get on one of those or try and start up one?
So yes, I think you're going about it the wrong way and dreaming to big compared to what you've proven you can do. Start small.
 

IMO, networking is less about "who you know" and more about "who knows you".
I can't be bothered to find it atm, but some years ago I saw a forum post written by Laura Shigihara (Plants Vs. Zombies composer) where she said that the trouble with networking is that it causes you to see people as a means to an end and most people can pick up on that. Meeting people means little to them; your work is what matters.
So the takeaway from her post was essentially that word of mouth is more important than actually meeting people after a pretty short while. Every successful composer out there who is repeatedly scoring worthwhile games, films and TV shows doesn't actually have to go to every developer conference and stuff. What happens is that they meet enough people in local scenes so that everyone knows "he/she is the composer" and if they do a project and it (or at least the music) turns some heads, because those are the heads who may call them when they're looking for a composer for their project. Do well enough and maybe an agency who frequently works with big names in entertainment will pick you up.
I learned it myself: I only had to attend nearby conferences and such a few times before all the regulars knew me as "the music guy" and if they're interested in having me do something, they'll call and if they like what I do they'll hopefully tell their friends. The same goes with referrals from other musicians and sound people.
The lesson to be learned here is that networking is important for getting your foot in the door, but once you do...do the best fucking job you can, because it's important that people notice.

Oh shoot, forgot to give some disclosure here: As far as this convo is concerned, I'm speaking strictly on when I do mod reviews and judgments, here, who's sole purpose is to direct people on how to get posted on OCR. I give other feedback on tracks that I listen to, as well, since often getting posted isn't the goal. Kind of a dick move to tell someone that they need better samples to get posted when they just wanted to show their stuff to people, or publish it elsewhere where such requirements don't exist. I don't want to give the wrong idea on here; if I'm not careful people will be scared to show me their stuff because they'll think I'm gonna look at it forever in the eyes of OCR standards, lol.
Nope, I just critique like that when it's my job to do so. Might explain Hoboka's concern about me earlier, too.
 

Exactly
Which is why I still say that the initial talking point is the most practical compromise that would result in a mixpost. Lo-fi tracks, regardless of intent, are either acceptable or not — full stop.
The part I bolded of your quote is also good, IMO, but really is just a more constructive and polite way of saying "make it like this instead". All depends on how badly the person wants to be OCR-approved, I suppose.

As can we all
I know what you mean.
I was a "Jack of all trades" type, but the problem was is that it's really expensive to get all the instruments or good virtual instruments to do a lot of different genres and there is a lot of esoteric knowledge involved in producing any kind of music. As such, I cheaped out on a lot of things and never spent enough time trying to get really good at anything in particular and I definitely paid for it...I'm also just never satisfied with my guitar sound and my passion for the instrument and metal music has died out, so I just play guitar for fun now and only occasionally feel like listening to rock.
I spent the last year and some change working on improving my skills with composing contrapuntally, orchestration, cinematic sound design and buying quality libraries. As of one month ago, I at last have a template that I'm really happy with and it can easily play anything I throw at it and it sounds great. 
I may not be able to compose every genre of music, but what I can do I have a lot of fun with and always feel inspired to compose more and while those VSTis may have made my wallet cry, it really is awesome not having to surrender so many musical ideas to the mercy of mediocre samples. 

IMO, networking is less about "who you know" and more about "who knows you".
I can't be bothered to find it atm, but some years ago I saw a forum post written by Laura Shigihara (Plants Vs. Zombies composer) where she said that the trouble with networking is that it causes you to see people as a means to an end and most people can pick up on that. Meeting people means little to them; your work is what matters.
So the takeaway from her post was essentially that word of mouth is more important than actually meeting people after a pretty short while. Every successful composer out there who is repeatedly scoring worthwhile games, films and TV shows doesn't actually have to go to every developer conference and stuff. What happens is that they meet enough people in local scenes so that everyone knows "he/she is the composer" and if they do a project and it (or at least the music) turns some heads, because those are the heads who may call them when they're looking for a composer for their project. Do well enough and maybe an agency who frequently works with big names in entertainment will pick you up.
I learned it myself: I only had to attend nearby conferences and such a few times before all the regulars knew me as "the music guy" and if they're interested in having me do something, they'll call and if they like what I do they'll hopefully tell their friends. The same goes with referrals from other musicians and sound people.
The lesson to be learned here is that networking is important for getting your foot in the door, but once you do...do the best fucking job you can, because it's important that people notice.

As can we all
I know what you mean.
I was a "Jack of all trades" type, but the problem was is that it's really expensive to get all the instruments or good virtual instruments to do a lot of different genres and there is a lot of esoteric knowledge involved in producing any kind of music. As such, I cheaped out on a lot of things and never spent enough time trying to get really good at anything in particular and I definitely paid for it...I'm also just never satisfied with my guitar sound and my passion for the instrument and metal music has died out, so I just play guitar for fun now and only occasionally feel like listening to rock.
I spent the last year and some change working on improving my skills with composing contrapuntally, orchestration, cinematic sound design and buying quality libraries. As of one month ago, I at last have a template that I'm really happy with and it can easily play anything I throw at it and it sounds great. 
I may not be able to compose every genre of music, but what I can do I have a lot of fun with and always feel inspired to compose more and while those VSTis may have made my wallet cry, it really is awesome not having to surrender so many musical ideas to the mercy of mediocre samples. 

As can we all
I know what you mean.
I was a "Jack of all trades" type, but the problem was is that it's really expensive to get all the instruments or good virtual instruments to do a lot of different genres and there is a lot of esoteric knowledge involved in producing any kind of music. As such, I cheaped out on a lot of things and never spent enough time trying to get really good at anything in particular and I definitely paid for it...I'm also just never satisfied with my guitar sound and my passion for the instrument and metal music has died out, so I just play guitar for fun now and only occasionally feel like listening to rock.
I spent the last year and some change working on improving my skills with composing contrapuntally, orchestration, cinematic sound design and buying quality libraries. As of one month ago, I at last have a template that I'm really happy with and it can easily play anything I throw at it and it sounds great. 
I may not be able to compose every genre of music, but what I can do I have a lot of fun with and always feel inspired to compose more and while those VSTis may have made my wallet cry, it really is awesome not having to surrender so many musical ideas to the mercy of mediocre samples. 

Perhaps then, the community needs to make more of a preemptive strike on submissions?
I seem to recall Darkesword or maybe Dave saying a while back that despite decreased activity on OCR actual, there are still plenty of submissions.
Now, somebody stop me if I'm wrong, but most new people submitting just learned of this through the YouTube or social media platforms? Someone may hear that mix from 2009 that Hoboka linked to, or the "meh" strings in "Attack of The Drones" and then when their mix gets rejected on the basis of sequencing/realism, they're going to be a bit puzzled and I doubt that most people read judges decisions unless it's for their own stuff.
So, perhaps in workshop and in j00jment, if someone is going for an epic trailer tune with GPO and 90s Roland patches, instead of giving them feedback as to how to make that track sound like Thomas Bergersen (which they obviously won't be able to do) we should instead steer them in the direction of making a really killer 90s JRPG soundtrack?
You know, like turning a bad tattoo into a good one instead of removal and a complete do-over. 

Bustling with activity, on here. I'm not going to make as long a response, but I'll drop a few more thoughts in here on the more fresh items.
- The judgment process won't go faster with more judges. It sounds counter-intuitive, but the items where it takes time (split yes/no votes) take much longer when there are more people. Nine judges could have a track max out at nine votes (4/5 split), while in a crazy case thirteen judges could require thirteen votes (a 6/7 split!). If anything, judge replacement would be the route to go, but that is not something I'll discuss on a public forum.
- On artist intention, I'm going to be honest: I avoid reading them when possible. They're great to have, and wonderful for Dave's write-ups, but it's bad to have something other than the music itself influence a judge's evaluation. It's harsh, but if quality control was affected by what an artist said or the experience level of a submitter then it would bring down the quality of what was posted on OCR.
- On the topic of "If we told you it was supposed to be like a PS1 style track and not realistic orchestra" in a write-up, it shouldn't be relevant in theory (if the judges are any good at their job :P). Here's why: if you're writing something in the style of PS1 soundtracks, you'd have to really dedicate the arrangement (or part of the arrangement) to sounding like it was on a tracker with decent quality samples. If you make alterations in order to make the samples sound more realistic you've failed in making it a PS1 style arrangement, but if it's not realistic enough you also fail at making it sound like an actual performance. If you go for one thing rarely can you pass it off as another - the uncanny valley of "almost good enough" sounds worse than going all out in one direction or another. If you're not yet able to sound realistic with your tools, it's far better to sound stylistically fake with what you've got.
Jorito's motto of "If you don't have the tools then don't make that kind of music" is where I sit. Darkesword said we've posted tracks using free soundfont samples, and he's right - it's not impossible to get something posted with free samples. AngelCityOutlaw said the trailer style arrangement is impossible without major bucks invested in equipment, and he's absolutely right - if you try with free samples it will likely fall in that uncanny valley that'll make it just sound not right. No one is forcing anyone to make epic trailor music without the proper tools; it's why you see so much synth music from me personally and relatively little orchestral or metal music, even though I'm an orchestra lover and a bit of a metal head.
- On putting in links on the judges decisions, it's a matter of privacy; it's better for the judges to remove information and let the artist decide for themselves if they want to make it public than it is to assume they want to have everyone hear their rejection and cause uproar when someone DIDN'T want that. There is a cool workaround, though, that I used for some time before getting posted (and will continue to do so in the future): if you specify that you want the link to remain upon rejection, OCR will let the link remain.
For example: This old chestnut.
I would in fact love to see more people do this, since it certainly would be helpful.
Keepin' myself involved in this thread, go me.

At the risk of pissing everybody off, the whole reason we're having this discussion is because people tend to take this place way too seriously.
I think that some of the more dedicated users and staff subconsciously (or not) see OCR as this bastion of quality VGM remixes and to enter its halls, one must claw their way to the top through rejection and feedback from the community until at last, you're "worthy" of the OCR name and you get that mixpost on their front page of everything and the integrity of the community depends on upholding this standard of quality. It kinda does feel that way when you get there at first.
In reality, most people just know this as that place with a bunch of cool VGM remixes on YouTube and torrents. You just managed to shape your project into something that more or less fits the philosophy of the site and the particular judges it went before liked it. If people like a track, that's great; if they don't, they'll just skip over it and check out the next one. 
Sure, there's got to be a limit on how lo-fi you can go, but all I'm saying is this site's site is still standing from approving "Koopa Dubstep" — it will still be standing if the track in the OP were Yes'd, too.

I can't agree fully in this situation because this conversation is happening on a site that primarily remixes old-soundchip tunes and regularly features plenty of tracks that are retro throwbacks and bank on "nostalgia" to make up it. Tracks that don't feature higher-end samples or expert sequencing on older libraries wind up sounding like this unintentionally and can get NO'd. Do you not see this as then rejecting a track because of stated intentions and not whether or the track is in line with what the audience will enjoy and otherwise meets expectations? 
but you can't. There is this long-standing myth in music communities that shortcomings of samples, be they sound or missing articulations, can be overcome with skill. They cannot. You can still compose an excellent trailer track with free soundfonts, but you'll never get the sound quality.
EWQLSO can sound great with great sequencing to make up for its abysmal playability, but even then many aspects of it are (and always were) garbage compared to more recent offerings.
So if some noob is using the strings from Symphonic Orchestra because that's what they can afford, they must be held to a higher standard of skill to pass the panel then a different noob with CSS? 
If they get refused because they attempt a track that's beyond the scope of their tools, then that's their fault for overstepping some boundary, but Darkesword says we don't tell people to go out there and spend more money?
But your earlier posts insist this can all be avoided if the user with limited-capability samples just says something like "I was going for PS1 JRPG soundtracks" when the only real difference between that music and modern video game soundtracks is the increase in sound quality. If so, then whether that track will receive a favorable reaction from the judges comes down to what you say rather than what you've done.
I see this as hypocritical at worst, again because of my first point.

• "Lo-fi" mixes are either acceptable or they aren't, regardless of intention; if people on YouTube hate "fake" stuff, the fact that it's intentionally fake isn't going to change their minds.
• Make the panel faster / relay more up-to-date information 
• Scrutinize "YES" votes a bit more thoroughly.
• There are indeed some valid criticisms toward OCR that don't necessarily stem from whiny-bitch, bitter rejects.
I think that's it?
Like I say, doesn't affect me if things change or not, but I can support change regardless.