MindWanderer

Nice. This, though not music, is even older. It's a little too obvious to have been completely original.

Voting is already open, here:

I have the HTML/CSS/JS/whatever technical skills to build a website, but I'm rubbish when it comes to aesthetics. If someone wants to design a page (layout, art, etc.), I can do the coding.

Some great stuff in there! In addition to track 4 and track 8, track 9 sounds awfully familiar... glad something good came of that! I really like the Final Fantasy V, Mario Kart Wii, and Undertale mixes as well.

Actraiser's pretty obscure these days. Considering a full orchestral arrangement for it exists, I'm not sure how much demand there would be for sheet music of the 16-bit instrumentation. Fan-made MIDIs do for most people for most purposes. Koshiro already has the data, presumably, so it's not an issue of transcribing by ear or anything. (And if he doesn't have the original data and is re-transcribing it by ear and memory, it's not much better than a fan MIDI.) Putting it down in sheet music notation shouldn't take more than a few hours of work. I suppose it depends on how much they plan on selling it for. The big overhead component would be setting up a distribution system.

Hm... where you hear "passionate and aggressive," I guess I'm hearing more "shouting his voice raw." It's a pretty small difference between that and the third example I posted, though, in terms of rap style. In terms of the piece as a whole, the WWE main theme songs tend to be much more musical than DMX's style, and thus would probably be best accompanied by a more musical rap style. The theme songs of individual wrestlers are sometimes much more similar to his, though. However, ultimately, if we found you a partner to provide the instrumentation and production, they'd be the best person to have this conversation with. A coherent piece of music is the most important thing.

The main advantage I see for Macs is that level of consistency. As Flex said, the limited number of options for what goes into a Mac (both hardware and software) means that it can be easier to develop a product that delivers a consistent experience on one. Fewer compatibility issues, so fewer crashes and other wonkiness. For that reason, a Mac can be a safer choice if you're not very tech-savvy; they're harder to screw up. Otherwise, PC's have, in their favor, a much greater breadth of software options, and a much cheaper price for comparable power.

Yeah, Sir Jordanius has always been the soul of the best hip-hop OCR has had to offer, and with him MIA, all that's left is a bunch of supporting artists. I don't know much of anything about rap outside of the WWE research I've been doing, but here are some WWE theme songs for some example styles. Additionally, Flo Rida seems to be the single most prolific contributor of WWE themes in recent years; he seems to do hip-hop which isn't always rap. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vr3zB3gDYq8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jkoCVOCPGME https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUjFPsCj5UM

I'll put you down on the list of available collaborators, then, and I hope someone will take you up on it! The OCR rap scene, never strong to begin with, seems to be in a bit of a downturn lately.

I've just finished listening to the stuff you've put up for the PRC's and on Soundcloud, and it's really not what I'm looking for. First is genre: Everything I heard was some very basic synth work. Most of the WWE themes (there's a playlist in the first post) are made primarily with live instruments, with a few rare exceptions such as EDM. And second, I'm afraid, is quality. Album remixes don't have to be quite at the level needed for an OCR mixpost, but they do need to be in the general ballpark, and you're not there yet. That being said, this album is still in the very early stages. If you'd still like to get involved, what you can do is work on a remix in a compatible genre, post it in the WIP forum, and get some help getting it up to par. I'd be happy to provide feedback to the best of my own ability, but honestly, my own remixes wouldn't be good enough either! Other forum regulars and the WIP mods will be of more help than me. If you can show me a finished remix that's close to the style I'm looking for and the quality level the OCR panelists are looking for, I'd be happy to have you on board.

I didn't realize so many OCR folks had not only contributed to this, but have been working with preview copies for a while now. @djpretzel, any chance for a mixflood that shows it off, on its release day? (Or at least within the first week of release?)

Nope, not buying it at that price. But that's just me, I'm really not willing to pay anything like a reasonable price for music stuff, since for me it's just an occasional hobby that I'm not very good at anyway. But I'm looking forward to seeing what others come up with using it! I think the association makes sense. This is a product centered directly around OCR's core focus, competency, and mission. I wouldn't be thrilled about OCR endorsing a general purpose tool like a microphone, a multipurpose synth, or a DAW, but, like OverClocked Records, this is right in the zone IMO.

Oof... I've never yet bought a VST--the ones that are substantially better than the free options are insanely pricey--but this could be the one that changes my policy.

Conversely, if one of the two sources you're working with has a lot of accidentals, use its mode and adjust the other source's mode to match it. Accidentals and mode changes are poor bedfellow.

Or by that logic, any of the few Atari 2600 games that had actual music. Moon Patrol, Pitfall 2, Bump 'n' Jump... that's all I can come up with there.

The various "versus" compos generally work by each participant choosing one source, then the various participants are matched together using a bracket, round-robin, or similar format. The music itself never determines the pairings. Sometimes it's easier, sometimes it's harder. They'll usually be in different keys, and they may even be in different scales or time signatures. Sometimes the ones that seem hard come out really smoothly, and sometimes combinations that seem obvious just don't work out. And it's very possible for two people to listen to the same two songs and come to very different conclusions about how or whether they can be combined smoothly. Because OC ReMixers never use recordings of the original source to create their songs, instead resequencing everything themselves (or, rarely, using a MIDI as a starting point), having the two (or more) sources be in the same key isn't necessary or even particularly helpful. Different scales or key signatures are harder and require creative reinterpretation, but IMHO no more so than if they have very different pacing or chord progression.

Some other options for smaller turnouts: Instead of providing a separate source for 6 participants, you can do A vs. B vs. C and D vs. E vs. F in round 1, then, for example, A vs. D and B vs. E in round 2. Swiss brackets. There are a few ways of doing these, but the usual way is to start off ranking all participants by seed of some sort, and matching everyone with their closest peer. In round 2, you would rank everyone by how decisively they won or lost the first round (i.e. percentage of votes, with a forfeit counted as 50%), and again match everyone with the closest score to theirs, with a little bit of fudging if necessary to prevent rematches. Round 3 would count the results of both rounds 1 and 2. The finalists are the ones with the highest total scores. One advantage of this format is that it's elimination-free until the finals. If there's an odd number of participants, round 1 can be a free-for-all with a separate source, similar to the gauntlet format. Then you eliminate however many low-scorers you need to get it down to the number you want.

Well, what I had meant by "breakdown" was starting at 1:57, but the original stuff I was complimenting was specifically 2:26-2:44. Not so much the SFX portion of it, but that starts off with a little bit of original music, and ends with a reverse crash leading into a solo lead. None of that was in the original, and that's the kind of thing you need more of. There are several approaches to making arranged remixes, but unfortunately it's largely a creative process. Riffing on existing melodies, playing sections out of order, taking a melody line and making a harmony line out of it or vice-versa, stripping out key components (with or without replacement), adding completely original content, etc. For me, it's mostly a lot of futzing around, either in my DAW or in my head, until I get a "eureka" moment. Not sure if others have a more refined process than that. What I meant by the "buzzy bass" was the bass that's used at the very beginning of the piece. It has a mid-frequency timbre that sounds very much like a fly buzzing in your ear. Because of that "buzz," the bass sounds much higher-pitched that what it's actually pitched to, and the result is a sound that lacks low-end.

I haven't bought a PS4 yet, and I still don't see a compelling reason to do so. Most of its games are either on PC, or are a genre I don't care for (military shooters and hardcore horror/action games). Uncharted 4 and Ratchet & Clank look good, but they're not system sellers for me. Between the PC I have hooked up to the big screen, and my Wii U, I just don't see an upside. I haven't even used my PS3 for anything except Netflix, Amazon, and DVD's for a couple of years now. Maybe VR will be a deciding point, but that's still in its infancy.

I like the groove a lot, too, especially that quirky accompaniment that kicks in at 0:33, but it certainly calls for some switching up of the lead instrument. I'd go one step further than Hank and say you should use more than one different instrument for the melody. Even the original source does this--ReMixes usually mix things up more than the original, or at least the same, not less. Also the first half is pretty much a cover except for the different bass rhythm. The breakdown in the middle is nice, but it needs some more creative arrangement. Soundscape is lacking in the intro. Hard to put my finger on it, but it seems to me like that buzzy bass is popping up into the midrange too much and is only really half a bass. Then when the melody kicks in, it's like it can't make up its mind whether to be a build-up or a main melody, it's a little strong for the former and weak for the latter. It really needs that harmony that doesn't come in until 0:58--not for the interest factor per se, but for the depth. Overall the transitions (build-ups, climaxes, etc.) are underwhelming--the intended energy level of each section needs more emphasis.

My personal, non-judge opinion is that, while borderline, there's probably enough originality to pass on those grounds. The percussion is definitely a strike, though. It also ends before it really gets going. I love the sound here, and I think a full remix using this as a starting point would be really cool.

Sweet, that gives us one tag team! I was hoping for a tag team match, though I'll still have to round up opponents for them. Definitely looking forward to this one.

This compo is for role-playing games. That's a whole lot of not-RPG's you've got there.

Could do round-robin heroes vs. villains (a la B4C2). That would make it 3 rounds, which seems to be about the stamina limit these days. Or round-robin within a bracket (A vs. B, B vs. C, C vs. A), which would be predictable but would be closer to your original vision.

Well, there's a few ways of going about this, and bear in mind we're going to make two versions of the album. In the full entrance, there's usually a huge introduction sequence. Sometimes it's musical, sometimes it's just a skit or something. And for our purposes, the majority of the time, that music is a completely different piece of music altogether, not part of their actual theme song. In the actual theme songs, there's often no introduction at all to speak of, and when there is one, it's rarely more than about 10 seconds. In fact, in recent years, it's been almost exactly 10 seconds an awful lot of the time. That's gotta be intentional. So, for our artists, you can take any of the following directions: Just make a song, with or without an intro. 10 seconds seems to be a magic number but is not required. When we make the "event" album, we may add an intro of some sort separately, which may be music or something else. Bake your "event" intro into your song. This can be between about 30 and 90 seconds in length. If it's lengthy, it should be based on a Castlevania source of some sort, and not a source used by a different remixer. If it's only about 30 seconds, it can be original if you like. Write a completely different short remix to be used as the intro. Again, no more than about 90 seconds long. In any event, the main body of the song, i.e. the theme song itself, can be anywhere between 2 and 5 minutes long. Some examples: John Cena: This seems to be the archetype. They used a completely unrelated piece of music for the introduction, which was longer than they wanted, so they just cut it short. Then they kick into the theme song, which itself has a 10-second intro. The Undertaker: A 90-second separate introduction followed by his theme song, which itself has an unusual 30 second introduction. This is probably the outer limit of how much introduction there should be. Triple H: This one is particularly well done and would be a good example for a remixer who wants to write their own introduction. About 90 seconds of a simple song, which starts with simple tubular bells and gradually adds the metal elements seen in the theme song. Then when it switches out to the theme song itself, it's a very natural transition despite the lengthy silence in between the songs. Rey Mysterio: No introduction at all. So that's an option. John Cena again: Non-music intro. This doesn't really work as-is with an audio-only album, but if we wanted to do a radio-drama style intro with sound effects and commentators, that's an option as well.