Bowlerhat

Oh man, this is fantastic! I love it so much. Great bass and drum writing, and there's some cool harmony going on. I don't know the source, but I definitely love the remix. 

Based on what you just told me, it sounds like you're being quite ambitious. Why are you making a 23 track album? Why are they over 1 minute each? 
Change the rules to fit your workflow. Unless you're doing it for someone else, then let it flow naturally. YES - make your plans but if it doesn't go to that plan thats ok. Plan on making a 10 minute epic? Its ended up 3 minutes long? Ok fine, NEXT TRACK. 
You say you have an album of 23 wips. Ok. You don't need to use half of them. You could finish off 5 of them and call it an EP? How long are said tracks? Well they could be 2 minutes each if you so desired. Take it where it is heading naturally. Trying to beat out a preconceived idea is not the way to go I find. Try just... letting an idea flow and don't worry about sticking to a brief so rigidly and just see what happens. You might find you finish more stuff and you enjoy yourself more to boot. Guidelines are great... but don't let them hold you back.

It's a common progression for creative people, even experienced ones.
You can read up on a what a lot of other people have done to break through the point of losing excitement to do a track and actually do the work of finishing it, but I think in general what you really need to be told is just to FINISH YOUR DAMN TRACKS. No tricks, no shortcuts, just sit down and get ready to go through the bog of working on it regardless if you feel interested or excited by it or not. I say there's not much good a lot of more specific advice can do for you because it's all as unique a process to you as your music style is. You won't know what the best way for you to get "motivation" to get through it until you do it. And do it again. And again. And again.
To be serious about doing an art means to employ a dedication to its discipline - in other words, get ready to sacrifice lots of time that won't be fun. Everyone here that ever got successful at music had to go through the same ritual and just accept it as part of what we do. I get the feeling what you're running into is just losing that OMG THIS IS AWESOME feeling we all get when starting something and getting the idea this could really be something and then just quitting it when that "high" runs out. Without experience in getting through the other end of it and going through the meticulous stages of making sure every single little fucking thing in it is perfect, you won't get through that barrier.
The encouragement part is, once you start getting experience in doing it, it can really build up quick. In fact, I personally make it a point in the soundtracks and albums and stuff I do now is to start a bunch at a time, work on them until I feel like I've got them at a good place, and then go back and do the "finishing" part for all of them in a "stage". I don't get obsessed with making sure I focus and start and finish one track at a time anymore because I've personally found that I work better in "batch bursts", what I call them. I'll get a bunch of tracks up to "nearly finished" stages, then one day I'll just burst right through and do the finishing stages for all of them in a single day because where my mind and energy at is "finish the job". No more "come up with something that could be something" or "ok, start getting some next parts going for this shit", it's "ok, the composition and arrangement is done, now to finish them off".
So, in actuality, you accidentally painted yourself into a good corner where now you can work on building a shitload of "finishing" experience. Start with one track, take as much time to make it perfect as you need, finish it and release it. Then do the same for another. Then the same for another. Then do 3 with a made up weekly schedule for each. Release. Then another 3. Release. And so on.
I tell you straight, few things in the world are as satisfying as finishing a song after you went through the not-fun part of doing it. It's like a non-gross orgasm that lasts all day. Then you realize you're quickly getting better and faster at doing it because the satisfaction of finishing a song is also a major EXP. POINTS burst. It really feels like you level up the first time you get an Ocremix posted, then your first whole album finished, then your first album published by a small label and so on. And those experience points don't go away as quickly as some other achievements.
So there's your motivation - sit your ass back in that chair and get to work and you'll get day-long orgasms you don't necessarily have to wipe off, and then find out you secretly jumped from Level 1 to Level 8 in just a few days and secretly picked up some "abilities" along the way, like being able to hear missing notes, missing instruments, wrong instruments and whole wrong sections just by listening to your own WIP a few times.
You'll be surprised how accurate I am here.

Just putting the word out that this is NOT DEAD.....Wheels are turning. 

I don't know a damn bit whether this is samba or Brazilian or big band or what the hell this is, I only know two things: that this remixer put a ton of work into this project and actually pulled it off with something like 15 live musicians, and this piece is just darned FUN!
Congratulations and well done!!

I don't think it's THAT far, actually. It may not be what I'm used to identify as a contemporary Carnaval parade samba-enredo (which was the source of inspiration for one of my mixes) and the bass drum beat could probably highlight just a bit more of the track rhythmic presence at times, but I can hear the samba here. I've already heard many orchestral arrangements of traditional samba music which sounded pretty similar to this. 
 

This is WAY FAR from Brazilian samba, it's something more to a jazzy, big band salsa that is played at the Caribbean clubs but damn this is a great upbeat remix! Keep up the good work! =)
Yeah, I've read about the naming mistranslation and your friend is correct saying it should be "Samba dos Anjos" but it's also incorrect in Spanish where it should be "Samba de los Angeles".

Best regards!

My therapist puts orchestral samba for background music in the waiting room every time and I'm gonna present this to her playlist.
Amei!

I love the reharmonization of the title theme at the beginning. It was done in a very subtle yet tasteful manner and totally set the scene for the rest of the track.

If possible I would like to have something done by the end of next summer (Let's say late July).  Once I get an idea of who wants to contribute and whatnot a schedule can be nailed down.  
Going faster than next summer actually couldn't be out of the question.   

Last summer I had much more free time than I had ever had before.  As a result I decided I would begin work on a youtube channel producing arrangements and remixes of video game music for (french) horn ensemble.  I would write the arrangements, then record both video and audio, do editing, and have a video ready to be released on a regular schedule.  Not long after starting, I decided that keeping a regular schedule would be more work than I could do as my free time would quickly run out.  Quality was selected over quantity, and I would save these arrangements for future use, possibly on OCR.  I wouldn't get involved with the OCR community until December of 2016.  My first submitted remix to the site was a success, so I figured out I had found a home here.
As a horn player, I've been told by so many people that the horn is a classical instrument, and it is not possible to play in other genres.  I then proceeded to play professionally in a jazz ensemble, rock band, funk group, and other non professional ventures in other genres such as a gospel choir and mariachi band.  I am not the only horn player who has done this.  However, the view that the horn is a strictly classical instrument is still very common, and I believe that it is a very limiting viewpoint.  There are many horn players who do not feel they are capable of venturing into new areas because they do not think it is possible, and there are many more who want to venture but are held back by teachers, peers, etc.  I was told that I couldn't play jazz, a genre I was raised on, and the horn was literally taken away from me when I tried to play.  They told me I ABSOLUTELY HAD TO play on trumpet or trombone, then when my skill level was so much lower than it was on my primary instrument, basically told me that I was no good at jazz.
I want to contribute to the solution of this problem.  My contribution will be a series of arrangements for horn in many genres.
This is where the community comes in.  As it stands now, I have 4 arrangements that are complete and awaiting recording, and others that are in various stages of completion.  I would like to make a whole disc's worth of music, however I would definitely not object to having two or more.  I am looking for collaborators on this project.
What is the purpose of this project?
The purpose of this project is to produce music with the horn as a central feature.  One of the arrangements being recorded is a rock track.  There are 8 horn parts, and a collaborator is recording guitar, bass, and drums.  I recorded all the horns and programmed piano.  The horns do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to presenting themes.  The other instruments are primarily support, however they are invaluable for the end product.  For a different track, it would be different, such as working with a vocalist.  If that were the collaboration, they would be the primary feature, with the horns supporting.  I am a little split at the idea of having a solo wind instrument other than horn as a feature, however I am open to suggestion.  After producing this, there will be a body of work that can be referenced to say "Yes, the horn can do that, and yes you can do that too!"  Or for arrangers, composers, or remixers to see what is possible and create new works inspired by this.
What would be needed from a collaborator?
There are two ways to contribute; as an arranger or a performer.  Arrangement contributors would write the arrangements to be performed.  Most of the work would be left to the collaborator, and I would edit minor details as needed for playability or effectiveness.
Contributing as a performer could involve arranging as described above and also performance with the voice or another instrument.  Performers would be highly encouraged to participate in the arrangement process to highlight their strengths.
Non musically, an artist to design artwork for the album would be needed.
What genres are possible?
Many genres are possible.  Due to the nature of the project, some genres are more difficult than others.  For example, predominately electronic genres such as EDM or dubstep that are driven by synths would be much more difficult to keep the acoustic horn as a central feature.  However, if those genres could be made to feature the acoustic horn I would be more than happy to oblige.  I have performance experience in jazz, rock, funk, gospel, mariachi, country, and others, and have worked in even more genres not as a horn player, so gaining familiarity would not be much of a problem.
I am looking at the London Horn Sound albums for reference. 
I am excited to work with people on this project, and am even more excited to see what can be produced!

I think that, besides the great things mentioned above it's also very important to have certain arranging techniques which are difficult to acquire by yourself. This of course depends on the genre of music you're writing, but a good knowledge of things like voice leading, instrumentation, reharmonization and similar things are generally very useful and help a lot with composing. Luckily, there are a lot of books about this. I'm personally not a big fan of books, but there are a few classics out there which in my opinion are a must have for every composer. Of course, it's a totally different thing whether you're writing for a string orchestra or for a rock band, so I can't really recommend anything as I don't know what your type of music and line up is. But, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do anything by yourself. There's a lot of people in the world that know a lot about composition and are sharing their knowledge in great detail for a small price. 
 
Just blindly listening to other people and constantly staying in a safe zone is of course also not the way. Absorbing information about things that interest you, and meanwhile experimenting with the things you're learning is in my opinion one of the richest and most fulfilling aspects of writing music. It's about the joy of discovering. Just playing around with chords on a piano for a few hours can be a very valuable and educational experience. This, in my experience, also brings the best results. Someone can tell you that the first inversion of a major chord sounds amazing, but hearing it yourself, and most importantly, stumbling on it by yourself when you're just messing around a bit, maybe accidentally adding a 9, has a lot more impact. First of all because it highly depends on the context, but also because that way it comes from yourself. This makes your music more you, and this authenticity and personality is what makes music so beautiful. 

I think that, besides the great things mentioned above it's also very important to have certain arranging techniques which are difficult to acquire by yourself. This of course depends on the genre of music you're writing, but a good knowledge of things like voice leading, instrumentation, reharmonization and similar things are generally very useful and help a lot with composing. Luckily, there are a lot of books about this. I'm personally not a big fan of books, but there are a few classics out there which in my opinion are a must have for every composer. Of course, it's a totally different thing whether you're writing for a string orchestra or for a rock band, so I can't really recommend anything as I don't know what your type of music and line up is. But, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do anything by yourself. There's a lot of people in the world that know a lot about composition and are sharing their knowledge in great detail for a small price. 
 
Just blindly listening to other people and constantly staying in a safe zone is of course also not the way. Absorbing information about things that interest you, and meanwhile experimenting with the things you're learning is in my opinion one of the richest and most fulfilling aspects of writing music. It's about the joy of discovering. Just playing around with chords on a piano for a few hours can be a very valuable and educational experience. This, in my experience, also brings the best results. Someone can tell you that the first inversion of a major chord sounds amazing, but hearing it yourself, and most importantly, stumbling on it by yourself when you're just messing around a bit, maybe accidentally adding a 9, has a lot more impact. First of all because it highly depends on the context, but also because that way it comes from yourself. This makes your music more you, and this authenticity and personality is what makes music so beautiful. 

I think that, besides the great things mentioned above it's also very important to have certain arranging techniques which are difficult to acquire by yourself. This of course depends on the genre of music you're writing, but a good knowledge of things like voice leading, instrumentation, reharmonization and similar things are generally very useful and help a lot with composing. Luckily, there are a lot of books about this. I'm personally not a big fan of books, but there are a few classics out there which in my opinion are a must have for every composer. Of course, it's a totally different thing whether you're writing for a string orchestra or for a rock band, so I can't really recommend anything as I don't know what your type of music and line up is. But, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do anything by yourself. There's a lot of people in the world that know a lot about composition and are sharing their knowledge in great detail for a small price. 
 
Just blindly listening to other people and constantly staying in a safe zone is of course also not the way. Absorbing information about things that interest you, and meanwhile experimenting with the things you're learning is in my opinion one of the richest and most fulfilling aspects of writing music. It's about the joy of discovering. Just playing around with chords on a piano for a few hours can be a very valuable and educational experience. This, in my experience, also brings the best results. Someone can tell you that the first inversion of a major chord sounds amazing, but hearing it yourself, and most importantly, stumbling on it by yourself when you're just messing around a bit, maybe accidentally adding a 9, has a lot more impact. First of all because it highly depends on the context, but also because that way it comes from yourself. This makes your music more you, and this authenticity and personality is what makes music so beautiful. 

I think that, besides the great things mentioned above it's also very important to have certain arranging techniques which are difficult to acquire by yourself. This of course depends on the genre of music you're writing, but a good knowledge of things like voice leading, instrumentation, reharmonization and similar things are generally very useful and help a lot with composing. Luckily, there are a lot of books about this. I'm personally not a big fan of books, but there are a few classics out there which in my opinion are a must have for every composer. Of course, it's a totally different thing whether you're writing for a string orchestra or for a rock band, so I can't really recommend anything as I don't know what your type of music and line up is. But, what I'm trying to say is that you don't have to do anything by yourself. There's a lot of people in the world that know a lot about composition and are sharing their knowledge in great detail for a small price. 
 
Just blindly listening to other people and constantly staying in a safe zone is of course also not the way. Absorbing information about things that interest you, and meanwhile experimenting with the things you're learning is in my opinion one of the richest and most fulfilling aspects of writing music. It's about the joy of discovering. Just playing around with chords on a piano for a few hours can be a very valuable and educational experience. This, in my experience, also brings the best results. Someone can tell you that the first inversion of a major chord sounds amazing, but hearing it yourself, and most importantly, stumbling on it by yourself when you're just messing around a bit, maybe accidentally adding a 9, has a lot more impact. First of all because it highly depends on the context, but also because that way it comes from yourself. This makes your music more you, and this authenticity and personality is what makes music so beautiful. 

As someone studying composition I can totally relate to your problem. Right now we're doing this huge project, and for the last few months we've been working on it furiously. I'd work on my piece everyday for weeks, and every Monday at class we'd show it to him. Every time I'd be a bit excited and proud of the stuff I did. Coincidentally, after almost every class I'd feel like going home, cry, and just ly in my bed for the rest of my life. I didn't do such a thing, but our teacher is quite harsh and every week everyone would get quite a lot of criticism (feedback) on our compositions that we had been working on for so long and of which at least I thought was sounding quite nice but apparently didn't work at all. I'd be lying if I'd say it wasn't demotivating. 
 
And then yesterday, I presented my umptheemth version of the song, and then my teacher patted my shoulder and said: "okay, that was quite good". And now, when I compare it to my first version, it really is whole lot better. And I never would have gotten it that good without writing all that other less good versions. So, yeah. Keep writing, be prepared to be told that it doesn't work, ask how you can change it and keep repeating that process. The workshop here at OCR is a really nice place for that, but getting face to face feedback from some local composers is really helpful as well. All of the composers I've met so far are all really nice, and generally prepared to help new composers with their stuff.

The real question here is "Why would anyone want this?"

Hi everyone!
I thought I'd post a thread in here to make it official that the OC Jazz Collective is currently working on their second ABSOLUTELY FREE OC Remix Album! The entire crew from Chronology returns to bring you some more jazz, this time in the form of a tribute to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. We've got some new faces on board as well and as per usual are open to arrangers who would like to submit their arrangements for us to record! Currently we do not have a working title for the album but we will keep you updated with this thread as we progress! Looking forward to bringing you more music!

-Currently seeking visual artists!
-Currently seeking arrangements! 
 
Musicians
XPRTNovice- Alto/Soprano
Anthony Lofton- Tenor Sax
Sir Jordanius- Trumpet
John Stacy- Horn/Trumpet
Fratto- Trombone
DrumUltima- Vibraphone
Nostalvania- Piano
Andy Pearce- Guitar
Jay Yaskin- Bass
Wiesty- Drums

Arrangers
Wiesty
Nostalvania
John Stacy
Amphibious 
Protodome
Fratto
Jorik Bergman
 

Well, I'm not a musician, I don't perform, so take my advice with a grain of salt or three:
If you're not being challenged & you're not growing from the performance opportunities, is it really that much of a risk/loss? That being said, if you know these folks & have a relationship, I'd try to assert yourself, propose some changes that would make the whole thing better (seems like having arrangements would be a good start!), volunteer to put in the effort to make these changes happen, and see if you get anywhere. If you do, great! If you don't... do you want to be a part of something you know is fundamentally flawed but which resists any efforts on your part to address those flaws? I'd tend to say no... in which case, maybe commute to Amarillo and see what's happening there, meet some new people, go on some adventures, etc. until something clicks?

Borrowed chords, like 1st, 2nd and 3rd degree mixture, right? JohnStacy's points are correct - if you substitute one chord for another that functions similarly you'll rarely go wrong. I'll expand on this topic a bit, though, since there are other interesting ways to move into mixture and borrowed chords (and even beyond that, sometimes).
Being a counterpoint junkie, I'll start there: if the counterpoint works, the chord progression works. Thus, if you transition into unique chords using solid voice leading the chord won't feel out of place. This is why there's a notable amount of Rennaisance music (Palestrina, Gesualdo) that has some pretty strange chordal patterns, and yet sound pretty natural in context - they never worked one music harmonically, only contrapuntally. If all else fails, good voice leading will smooth everything out.
There's another related point of view (Neo-Reimannian) that dictates that the fewer notes that are changed, the less jarring the transition will be. Thus, if you only change one note from one chord to the next, no matter how much mixture is involved it will not sound out of place. Change two notes and it's a middle ground between jarring and not jarring. It's a logical yet interesting manner to get some cool mixture involved - lots of Romantic composers used this method of generating some pretty unique mixture.
Those are a bit heavy on the theory, so one final rule of thumb: just use the chord in question, and if you don't like it, change it to something you DO like. You'd be surprised just how poignant an effect some of this can have if you just experiment with them; the 'hard and fast' rules on how to use them are a bit dated, anyway. It's nice to know that there are rules on the use of mixture, but really the only 'rule' you need to know is that there isn't really a restriction on their use.
Hope that helps!

Each time you borrow a chord, it's a specific sound and context that it works best.  Generally, when you use a borrowed chord it is to suit that context.
For example, using a tritone substitution to go from something like Dm7-G7-C could be substituted as Dm7-Db7-C.  You could apply that any time you had what would be a 5-1 movement, but it wouldn't sound right in many different places.
The same thing goes for things like a lowered 6 degree, like having an Ab chord in the key of C.  It sounds nice, but if you just throw it in there without wanting that particular sound, it will just sound weird.
Basically, know all the borrowed chords you can, know what they sound like to the point that you can recognize them without thinking when listening to things, then use them in places where you think that kind of sound would work well, and also where it can still make sense.

Alright, everyone: Announcement!
I've set up a Discord page for us to meet, talk shop, and establish how we'll move forward from here. This is where we should plan on really figuring out our house rules, how we can figure out what we want to sing, talk choral composition shop, etc. It's taken me a little while due to increased duties on OCR, things moving out for the Lufia album, SMRPG release, etc., but this IS still on a pretty high priority.
I'll be PM'ing you guys about it, as well as sending invites to people I know are on the list.

Nintendo! Crazy idea: offer the tablet by itself (with the joycons, of course).
Looking at Nintendo's Buy Now page, there's a list of each component and its price. The dock is listed as $90 US, which is less than a third of the whole price. Now, I don't know exactly what the dock offers aside fro acting as a charging port for the tablet and outputting the display to a HD TV. But if the Switch is supposed to be a console and a portable, surely I can just use the Switch as a portable if I want to.
The price would be lower, and it would still work fine as a portable (some of us prefer portable over console, it's true!), and then entry price would be lower... say $250. That's about what the 3DS was on release, and the Switch would be far more powerful, warranting the price. If I want to, I can buy a dock for it later.
That only leaves the battery issue, which could be fixed by a proper expanded battery accessory or just grabbing a decent USB rechargeable battery pack.
You still get the same everything, just not on a TV... which isn't something that handheld players are necessarily into in the first place.

The whole thing about the video game realbook is that it's a collection of lead sheets, not piano sheet music or some other thing like that.  Just melody and chords. Great for a jam situation.

Which, I do happen to be working on, and am happy that there is this conveniently located thread of suggestions to include that I need to get working on.

Quick post, so people don't think I'm dropping the ball: Magfest is happening this weekend. While I unfortunately will not be attending, I know at least a few of you (and quite a few staff) will be participating there.
I've still got my eye out for volunteers, but this will be going full bore next week after everything settles down again. I hope y'all had a great Holiday!