MindWanderer

After the last VBulletin downtime, I keep having to re-login despite checking Remember Me. The OCR VBulletin cookies expire in 24 hours, so I'm guessing that's the issue.

Submitted mine. Fair warning, my voice is still audibly strained from having been sick. But I think I improved the production somewhat over last time. Please, please give me constructive criticism this time! I'm not just doing this to listen to my own voice, and I'm sure as hell not doing it to win.

I remember noticing VGM in an extremely primitive form from arcades--I found the minimal music of Rastan quite catchy, and I'd hang out in the video arcade of my local roller skating rink watching people play and getting that tiny musical phrase stuck in my head. Pitfall II for the Atari 2600 was the first game I remember playing that had a real, catchy "score" (even if that score was just variations on one song). I realized that I enjoyed VGM, and remixes, as music in junior high. I put a tape recorder up against my TV to record Final Fantasy IV's Black Chocobo theme, and Beginnings and Vampire Killer from Super Castlevania IV. It didn't dawn on me until just now that all three of those are remixes! I've been browsing for VGM remixes since college (late 90's). I believe it was rpgamer.com that used to have MIDIs of RPG music available for download, and I had quite a collection of them. The Castlevania Dungeon was also a major source of music for me. I'm not sure exactly when I noticed OCR as a specific site, but I've had remixes from OCR in my music collection that must date to within a couple of years of its founding. Short answer: just Yahoo searches for specific game music, probably Final Fantasy or Castlevania at the time. Not much. There are a few, small groups of friends that have formed for non-musical socialization, but I'm not among those. There's some off-topic chat, but it's pretty random. VGM is music to me. I listen to music from OCR, game OST's, and other remix and cover artists every day, almost to the exclusion of all other music. It's familiar and comforting, but exciting at the same time. The music played at my wedding was 90% VGM. I went to the More Friends concert at Universal Citywalk many years ago, and when they played the FF main theme I had to actually fight the urge to stand up and put my hand over my heart. I'm a gamer, and VGM is the music of my culture, no less than hymns and contemporary Christian music are to someone religious, or Mariachi is to a Latino. It's a huge part of who I am.

Gonna have to do this all in one night, I'm just shaking off an nasty cough. But I think I have better production ideas this time, so it might still come out better than last round.

30 is probably too many, both for OCR-I and for tracks that can be cleaned up to the appropriate level of quality. But there's no reason to choose a number now; put out the call, see what you get, go from there.

Since the season has been spent with the Novices collaborating with Stars, now is the time to turn it around. (Sort of--this would have worked better with more consistent enrollment, but oh well.) The four participants have been paired with each other to collaborate for the season finale. Your mission: Remix either your partner's source in your style, or vice-versa. (The other source can make a cameo if you want, but no more than that.) Collaboration should be as even as possible. Each participant should try to bring their strengths to the table, whatever they are. No letting one person do all the work! Pairings Esperado with Jorito: Legend of Legaia: Rim Elm in Reggae/Funk or Transport Tycoon Deluxe: Main Theme in Trip Hop [*]HoboKa with BrothaDom: Advance Wars: Eagle's Theme in Ambient House or Soulblazer: Underground Castle in Rap/Hip-Hop Have fun youse guys. Note; It was always my intention to drop out myself if we had an even number of participants otherwise. If someone needs to drop out, say so and I'll substitute myself. Otherwise I'm happy sitting out, especially since I'm doing the singing thing this week.

Some lyrics that make more sense and more closely match what I'm hearing: http://forums.sonicretro.org/index.php?showtopic=32133&st=180&p=768141entry768141

With only 3 people signed up so far, this round may be a bust for the time being. If we don't get at least one more by tomorrow night, I'll revise the format and keep signups open for another week.

Absolutely! As long as you haven't had a mix accepted by the panel (as the primary mixer), you're welcome to sign up! Note that I didn't actually say you'd be doing your chosen source in your chosen style, though.... HoboKa, still need a source and a style from you, when you can.

Are there even any other mascot categories? I hunted through a bunch of mascots and couldn't find any others in any categories other than "Mascots." It's kind of silly that the Squaresoft/SquareEnix mascots still have "pictured from" entries.

Picky, picky. So I forgot to remove a couple of references to Star participation from my template. I think I got them all now. Yes, Novices only, same as last season's finale. Different format, though, obviously.

I'll get this ball rolling myself, then. I'll have to squeeze it around the Idol contest, but I might be able to at least be consistent. Source: Style: A capella

I did one of these for MnP01, FF VII battle theme. It didn't stick to the strict limitations of the NES, but did stick to its sound palette. One of my better remixes, not that I'm terribly good in general. Sadly Hoboka deleted the round by accident and hasn't re-uploaded it yet, and I don't have a copy on hand right now. Edit: Just found One-Winged Angel, amazingly done:

That's amusing. I have a little bit of background in advertising (mostly through the psychology of persuasion), and a heck of a lot of that does start with thinking the viewer is dumb. In fact, I think the sizable majority of advertising--evidence-based, even--is based on that assumption.More than dumb, though people are lazy, and unobservant. But given that a front page redesign is in the works anyway, probably best to hold off until then. That said, opening the OCR homepage and seeing a big picture, front and center, of the title screen of a game with a soundtrack I love would personally give me a bit of a thrill. I know I feel that way with album launches.

While I can really only speak for myself, I think this is probably a common sentiment: point the fingers. We're here to improve. I overdid the reverb, I'll own that. And my microphone sucks, and I'm not willing to shell out for a better one until I develop the chops to make one worthwhile, but that means I'll need to spend more time filtering out background noise.I'll assume those tips were aimed in my general direction, at least in part, and thank you for them.

At least there are more votes than entries, but yeah, both are pretty sad. A 65% dropout rate in the first round is the highest I've seen of any compo here. Not sure if people just weren't excited about the song in particular or if people really won't listen to anything but VGM around here?I guess we'll find out next week. I've been watching some vocal mixing technique videos, so hopefully I can get something a little more respectable in next time. Still hoping for some constructive criticism!

Please note the special signup rules this time. You can choose a genre (e.g. classic rock, reggae, hiphop, contemporary classical), a style (e.g. Italo disco, a capella, salsa), or anything else that similarly describes a piece of music (e.g. Asian instrumentation, spoken word). I discourage "chiptune" because of its prevalence here. General terms such as "electronica" or "orchestral" should be avoided as well, try to be more specific.

Season 2 Finale: Rising Stars Results! First Place: Da Legend Of Da Regg Aelm Ya by Jorito, with 3 votes. Second Place: I'm The Soul Blazer by HoboKa & BrothaDom, with 1 vote. Download Season 2 Now! Pairings Esperado with Jorito: in Reggae/Funk HoboKa with BrothaDom: in Rap/Hip-Hop About ReMixing With the Stars ReMixing With the Stars is intended to give beginning remixers some support, encouragement, and mentoring in their quest to become great, and as a sidenote, to become posted remixers. Beginners are mentored by experienced remixers to push their abilities to new heights and submit collaborative works according to the theme of the month. Who's a "Star" and who's a "Novice?" Any posted or accepted-to-be-posted remixer, as the only artist or as the lead arranger on a piece, is automatically considered a "Star." This isn't meant to be a statement on who's a "good" or "expert" artist, but it's a somewhat meaningful threshold which doesn't require any subjective judgment on my part (however subjective the OCR judging process may be). Rules Enrollment: This special episode is for Novices only. I especially encourage anyone who participated earlier in the season to enroll, but it's open to anyone who is not a posted or accepted-to-be-posted remixer. No, the Judganator doesn't count. When enrolling, please post a source (any track from any game) and a musical genre, style, instrumentation, or other general musical descriptor. Mixes: No one other than the participating Novices may help in any way. Submissions: All entries must be sent to me by the 10PM PDT deadline via PM on the forums, with a link to a reliable host for me to download your mix from. Please don't use Tindeck, as it doesn't give you control over what the filename will be when downloaded. I also recommend you post in this thread that you've submitted your mix, since I know there have been issues in other compos with PM's not being received. Please submit your file as an mp3, preferably encoded at a high-quality VBR or 320kbps. Proper file names and formats mean I can do my job of getting the compilation done and posted faster, which means you get to hear the great music produced by this sooner. Seriously, it's not that hard, please double-check. Schedule All deadlines are 10 PM Pacific time (PDT). Signups until Wednesday, April 9, 10:00pm PDT. You must post links to at least two samples of your previous work! They don't have to be good, they don't even have to be game remixes, you just have to prove you're not brand-spanking-new to this music production thing. Things you've posted to the WIP forum are preferable but not required. Announcement of the special format on April 9. ReMixing from April 9 to Wednesday, April 23, 10:00pm PDT (2 weeks). Rules and guidelines above. Voting from whenever I get the compilation posted (should be no more than a few hours after the deadline) until Wednesday, April 30, 10:00 PM PST. Votes should be based on use of source (i.e. interpreted but recognizable), arrangement, production, and, to a lesser extent, enjoyability. How appropriate the submission was for the theme shouldn't be considered (since this is easier for option A than option . You'll pick your three favorites, in order. Your first-place vote will get 3 points, your second-place 2 points, and your third-place 1 point. Participants may not vote for their own mixes, but participants who vote will get a free first-place vote added to their score. Please send me a PM with your votes, like this: 1. First-place ReMix 2. Second-place ReMix 3. Third-place ReMix Thanks for your interest, and lets get this show on the road! Previous Episodes Season 1 Compilation [thread=40611]Pilot Episode: "Beginnings"[/thread] [thread=41556]Season 1, Episode 1: "Spooky!"[/thread] [thread=41864]Season 1, Episode 2: "Origins of Home Gaming"[/thread] [thread=42143]Season 1, Episode 3: Special "You Can Never Have Too Much Mega Man" edition[/thread] [thread=42485]Season 1, Episode 4: "Yesteryear"[/thread] [thread=42797]Season 1, Episode 5: "Ultra-Modern"[/thread] [thread=43124]Season 1 Finale: "Touched by a Star"[/thread] [thread=43437]Season 2, Episode 1: "Country Road"[/thread] [thread=43702]Season 2, Episode 2: "Tropical Vacation!"[/thread] [thread=45320]Season 2, Episode 3: Special "Wish on This!" edition[/thread] [thread=45909]Season 2, Episode 4: "The Need for Speed!"[/thread] [thread=46454]Season 2, Episode 5: "Pacifism"[/thread]

Close race this time! Results! First Place: "Stop the Doc" by BrothaDom feat. Jean of mArc, with 17 points. Second Place: "Genesis" by Hollow feat. timaeus222, with 15 points. Third Place: "Practice Makes Madness" by Cash feat. Esperado, with 14 points. BrothaDom scored one point short of a perfect victory, with voters essentially split between Hollow and Cash.

Right now we have four. About 10 hours left to vote.

Well, the Judganator correctly identified my remix as weak, and that it wasn't muddy enough, but it also complained about wasting its time, and that I needed less cowbell. This is plainly bonkers, considering that I sent it a 0-byte file. Also, it took far too long to upload a 0-byte file. Edit: On the chance that it might be an encoding issue, I resent it as a .FLAC instead of a .mp3. The result:

I was trying to do the reverse, actually. In the wide, wide world, most people are listening to music on crap headphones, speakers, etc. So it's critical to listen to your own mixes on crap headphones before submitting, which I neglected to do. If your mix doesn't sound good on cheap headphones, then your good ones may be doing you more harm than good.In other words, I believe that cheap headphones always represent mixes "properly."

Reviews and comments here, to not clutter up the voting thread overmuch: Amayirot: Well, it's more intoning than singing, and it's nothing fancy, but what it is is done well. anterroir: Um... not really my thing. I have a feeling nothing constructive I would have to say would get to the point. Brandon: The production and arrangement king, hands down. This is what I aspire to in that department. But you really need to learn to sing from the diaphragm and project. Your voice sounds very nasally and compressed. CN: Oddly precise and mechanical metering combined with expressive intonation and fills. Good production quality, and the "whoas" worked really well. Me: I really need to remember to listen to my stuff on more than one pair of headphones. At home, the harmony lines cut through very distinctly, but they're totally muddied on the cheap headphones I'm using now. My timing was a little off, too. It's a shame--the original chorus is done in a monotone in the dead center of my range, so I was able to sing it in octaves. You just can't hear it.... Trism: Another chant, which is odd because you clearly have a powerful singing voice. Will's part is too loud in this mix. Xarnax: Not sure what happened to the volume here, it came out really quiet. Good harmony. A bit nasal, you usually manage to sing more from the gut.

I'm slow and terrible but also done. Let's just say I'm looking forward to some constructive criticism.

I'm doing that specifically because you're covering the efficiency aspect effectively already. And XPRT started this whole topic because he wanted to re-market himself. The new site should hit all these points: marketing, aesthetics, and technological.I'm not sure how you can say that aesthetics can be well done "objectively" but something being ugly is "subjective." But have you seen that mobile site? Lime green, magenta, and gray. It consists of one landing page with nothing on it but two links, one to a single paragraph bio and one to contact info. That's maybe a bit too minimal--it's basically a business card (with only his agent's phone and email). As for loading background resources, it mostly just struck me as odd how very long the loading spinner lasted on that page. Incidentally, I opened it on my phone in desktop mode, and it's pretty bad. The whole thing is Flash, so no iOS, clicking on stuff is really hard to do, and it doesn't scale properly and you can only scroll around it if you touch the margins. Out of curiosity, I also checked out the other sites on mobile. Oram's is technologically top notch, using CSS and HTML5 to resize and reflow most of what's on her desktop page, but it scales much too big and ends up being an example of too much content for mobile. Fulgitini's site is no different on mobile from on desktop, but everything is so BIG that it works reasonably well anyway, and it actually loaded a lot faster than I expected (much faster than Wiberg's site became functional). I guess the way Soundcloud and Youtube do streaming, resource loading isn't much of an issue. Vayron's site took so long to load, my phone offered to force close the browser! But once it did come up, it worked really well as an alternative version of the homepage, keeping all the content but doing a good gob of resizing and reflowing the columns reasonably.