MindWanderer

Yeah, no. If you're posted, you don't get to call yourself a Novice for this thing (despite any personal feelings that you still have a lot to learn--everyone does). I'm sure someone will sign up who could benefit from your experience and skill. I may do so myself.

I doubt that it was too obscure; it's actually pretty well-known and very good. The game even has a lengthy OCR album. Chalk it up to the holiday season, more likely. I know I had intended to submit to the PRC this time, and couldn't despite the extra-long remix period. Also this PRC round was ridiculously tempting and probably stole some of the attention from MnP.

Actually, I feel like it's the intro that drags on too much. 0:11-1:11 is the same few bars over and over again, and then it repeats again at 1:40-2:13 and 2:40-2:52. Honestly the arrangement doesn't hold my interest at all. The lead is also too quiet throughout. The backing seems fairly solid to me. Could we get a source link?

I agree with all this. My one big crit of this remix is that the volume is all over the place. A comfortable volume level for the intro and outro raises the main song into the "hurts my ears" level, and a comfortable level for the main song lowers those into the inaudible. I got used to that bass throb but it did take some getting used to.I actually really like the synth strings, but then I like synth strings in general. I find it to be well contrasted with, rather than outdone by, the slick synth at 5:18. Overall a really well-done and entertaining mix.

You can log back in and change it if you want. Vote a second time and it will replace the first.

Season 2, Episode 4: The Need for Speed! Results! First Place: "Cruisin' the Docks" by Esperado feat. timaeus222, with 24 points. Second Place: "I'm your huckleberry" by Hollow feat. evktalo, with 18 points. Third Place: "Spectrum Path" by BrothaDom feat. Argle, with 16 points. Download Season 2 Now! Theme Excitement is building for the Sonic Zone Remix Competition 2014, so let's get revved up for the fastest erinaceomorph on record with a little racing! You should either: Base your remix on a source or sources from a racing game (including kart racers), or from a racing minigame or segment in a non-racing game, or: Choose a source that doesn't sound anything like it should be raced to, and remix it so that it does! Pairings Esperado with timaeus222. Source: http://youtu.be/GBPbJyxqHV0 The SamAreAye with Flexstyle. BrothaDom with Argle. Sources: http://youtu.be/cOWRNLaCMJg http://youtu.be/u0G12EBW4KY Hollow with evktalo. Source: http://youtu.be/6u3StnLPI7k (0:00-1:15) 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. Thanks to urdailywater and Flexstyle, we now have a perfect example of what can come out of this, in Broken Wings. 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 threshhold which doesn't require any subjective judgment on my part (however subjective the OCR judging process may be). Additionally, anyone who wants to sign up as a Star can also be put into that category. This is because a lot more "Novices" (who is everyone else) sign up than stars, and it's better to receive some mentoring from someone who's good but not posted than from no one at all. If you've done any of the following things, as examples, I strongly recommend you sign up as a Star: Contributed to an OCR album Had a submitted remix rejected but with one or more "Yes" votes Contributed substantially to the arrangement and production of a posted remix, but not as the primary remixer Beat a posted remixer in direct competition (not counting forfeit) Sold your compositions (remixes or not) for money If you want to sign up conditionally (e.g. "I'd prefer to be a Novice, but if you need me to be a Star so more people can participate, that's fine too"), then go ahead, and bless you. Rules Enrollment/Pairings: Sign up by posting to this thread and saying whether it's as a Novice, a Star, or either as needed. Once signups are closed, pairings will be assigned randomly, except that specific pairings will not be repeated during a season. If there are more Novices than Stars, Novices will be paired on a first-come, first-served basis. Mixes: The Novice must be the primary remixer. Stars can contribute by giving advice, performing with a live instrument or vocals, and with production, including sample quality, balance, and minor arrangement adjustments to fix timing or dissonance issues. They may also contribute a short solo segment arranged entirely by them. No one other than the Novice and Star may help in any way. Submissions: All entries must be sent to me by the 10PM PST 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. Filenames must be in the following format: Novice feat. Star - Title (Game).mp3 Example: MindWanderer feat. djpretzel - The World's Worst ReMix (Pong).mp3 Proper file names mean I can do my job of getting the compliation done and posted faster, which means you get to hear the great music produced by this sooner. Also please include a link to your source for comparison. YouTube is usually best for this, but anything that streams and doesn't require special plugins or software is fine. Schedule All deadlines are 10 PM Pacific time (PST). Signups until Wednesday, January 8, 10:00 PM PST. If you're signing up as a Novice, and this is your first time doing RMWtS, 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. If you're signing up as a Star, say a little bit about your strengths, and maybe post a link or three to remixes you feel best represent them. You can mention anything else you think would be helpful in working with you (software preferences, instruments you play, etc). Announcement of the pairings and theme on Jan. 8. The theme will be broad enough to allow many, many options, serving mainly as a unifying factor. It's announced later so that no one gets a head start. ReMixing from Jan. 8 to Wednesday, Jan. 22, 10:00 PM PST (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, January 29, 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 (both Novices and Stars) 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]

Seriously, focus on one album at a time. A lot of albums tank; it takes a lot of energy and coordination over months or years to see a single album to completion. You have a firm source list for the first album. If and when you get to the final stages of getting this thing pushed through, talk about a second. But that's way, way down the line.

Woot! RMWtS on the first page! Always knew this was the mix that was going to make it happen. With so many compos running these days, it's hard to generate much interest in this one. Stars in particular are hard to come by. I was going to run another round in January, but it looks like SZRC2014 will conflict. I may need to consider an alternative schedule or format to keep this going on a more regular basis.

Harpsichord sample in the intro is still pretty poor, and very mechanically sequenced. You'll need some humanization there. The kick is a bit overwhelming from 0:30 to 0:54. Balance in 0:54-1:47 is drowning your melody, all I hear is accompaniment. Panning helps but is no substitute for equalization. 1:47 to 3:40 really has too much kick--too loud and too much of it. The samples still aren't good here: the strings and piccolo still sound really fake and mechanical. And that snare is awful, it sounds like someone slapping a wet towel on the ground. Transitions are also a problem. There's a slowdown and climax at the end of each section, but then the next one starts straight in at full strength. That works OK for intro->main, but not so well more than once, and all your transitions are like that. Build tension and release with either a fast climax and continued high energy, or with a slowing climax followed by a soft, slow section. You almost do this with the outtro, but even the piano is too energetic, and there's no continuity. Played softly, with some residual elements from the earlier section, would work better.

I'm inclined to agree that one edition will do nicely. I listened to several soundtracks of several Yu-Gi-Oh and One Piece games and there really wasn't anything that leaped out at me. (I couldn't find much for Bleach, and I wasn't sure what was O.G. Naruto and what was Shippuden or whatever.) Also, these are all comparatively recent mangas. Dragon Ball and Yu Yu Hakusho are older and more iconic (especially DBZ). The Rurouni Kenshin games seem to have decent soundtracks (though I'm having trouble finding much). Really, 1-2 remixes per series is plenty. If there's huge demand, there could be a second album, but start with one and assume it'll be the only one. The album could open and/or close with a Jump Stars remix. Incidentally, I did find a playlist for JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: Heritage for the Future. There's some good stuff there. Jotaro's theme seems popular, and I see why. If it remains unclaimed and allowed after I get my SDMRPG WIP in I may claim it myself.

I looked for a general thread for these but didn't find one. I apologize for any duplication. This seems like a common and simple sound, but I can't find any presets in any of my synths that come even vaguely close to it, and so far my attempts to recreate it from scratch have failed utterly (which is no surprise, I still have a lot to learn about synths). It's the very first sound, the opening pad in this: http://youtu.be/VrN2vT0ISf4 I know I could sample it, there's a good two seconds of it playing clean with no other sounds, but I'd really like to figure out what it's made of, partly as a learning experience and partly to possibly tweak it. Also I strongly prefer not to even sample anything that isn't open license when I can avoid it. Any ideas?

Not necessarily. Wearing headphones and mousing it in one-handed isn't a bad use of your time when the baby just insists on being held for an hour at 3am. Not conducive to live recording, but fortunately that isn't djp's main thing.

Here's the official SFZ specifications: http://www.cakewalk.com/DevXchange/sfz.asp I'm not aware of any easy-to-read tutorials.

Apparently Dr. Luigi was just announced for Dec. 31. If it has any unique music, this would be absolutely perfect.

Also, there's no real need to make a true "soundfont" (sf2). sfz's are easier, they're just wav's and a text file. You can use a program, like sfzed, to help, or you can write the text file from scratch in Notepad (which can end up being faster, since you can make your own templates and copy-paste). For the SNES, Genesis, and earlier consoles, there are already soundfonts and VSTi's out there. Consoles after those didn't use such constrained sound-generating systems and don't have any practical limits as to what they could produce, so you'd need to rip sounds directly from the games somehow.

I've only ever played the first game, but I fell in love with the soundtrack immediately. I ripped each of the character themes as soon as I had them unlocked and slapped them on my MP3 player. And the soundtrack is full of catchy melody hooks, it absolutely screams for remixes. I'm a noob yet, and I know I'd have to audition for a project, but I would absolutely be on board (with a preference for characters from the first game, of course).

So, freesound.org has four different use licenses. Most of them require attribution. I don't recall ever seeing sample attributions on a mixpost, nor have I ever seen them in judge threads. Is there a way to use these legally? Should I stick with Creative Commons Zero samples? Or do people just not care?

Still saying: Gauntlet-style, characters vs. bosses.

Huh, I was looking for the boss vote thread and somehow never saw it. Weird. Well, doesn't matter, I would have voted for The Extreme anyway. And I never really listened to Kuja's theme before--my brain turns to mush at the end of FFIX every time, so now I get to appreciate it.

I've been poking around at a couple of albums in their recruiting phases. No time like the present to get started on that and kill two birds with one stone!

a) Joining a project is up to the director. They should have acceptance criteria listed in the project thread. The usual arrangement is that posted remixers are allowed to claim tracks as long as they meet deadlines; everyone else has to audition, either with a sample work of some sort or a WIP of what they have in mind for the project. Someone who just shows up and tries to organize a project will probably have a hard time finding participants, but nothing prevents you from trying. The process to get accepted as an official OCR project is fairly rigorous, but there's a lot to do before that's something you should even be thinking about; mustering participants and getting WIPs in will probably take months.

So it's more like a remix album of a fictional game's soundtrack? I'll start playing around with my idea and send you a WIP when I have something presentable. I may end up needing a fair bit of feedback and advice, but I'll try to polish it as much as possible first.

Also FFIX's battle theme is, I believe, the last FF battle theme to use the classic bass line for FF battle music used in FF1-6 (and for specific bosses in 7 and .Incidentally, the youtube link to this source in your track list posts is now broken. I don't see anything about any kind of unifying style, instrumentation, etc. mentioned anywhere in the first post, or in this thread. If this were a "real" RPG, there would be some kind of consistency in that regard. I'm seriously tempted to give this a shot--I've not yet made anything of sufficient quality for this, but then I've not yet spent more than a week or so working on one remix. If the style/genre restrictions, if any, match something I think I might be able to do, I'll start working on a WIP to audition. Edit: I notice there aren't any "location"-type entries on the tracklist yet. I'm thinking about working on something for "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms" or "Still, the Road is Full of Dangers." That way, if I come up with a WIP worth using, great, it could be worked in; if I don't, then it doesn't block off someone else from remixing a source they want. I have some very preliminary ideas regarding a combination of "Beware the Forest's Mushrooms," Dr. Mario 64 "Que Que," and SMW's "Forest of Illusion."

I've been following OCR almost since day 1, I remember downloading "Horizontal Armada" shortly after it was uploaded (and it's still proudly on my playlist). I think somewhere I may still have some MIDI remixes from the pre- and early OCR days. It's been a great ride, and I'm grateful to everyone who's helped make it so.

Sure. Feel free to suggest improvements. Speaking of this: There seem to be some strange effects of channel selection with some VSTi's that I can't make a lot of sense of. With some instruments, when a note in a lower-numbered channel follows a note in a higher-numbered channel, with no gap, it has some specific "blending" effects. In some VSTi's (Zebralette and TAL-Noisemaker), it's a way to get portamento to trigger without notes overlapping. In Synth1's arpeggiator, it can make the pattern become offset. It probably isn't a Reaper-specific question, but why does this happen?Edit: Fixed bugginess in previous version of custom action.