JohnStacy

In late June I was in a car wreck. At 60mph I slammed into the flat side of a trailer front on. I'm alright, as is my wife, but I'm starting to wonder if I'm having PTSD from that. We were driving down to sign the paperwork for a house, which we then bought. We moved down on the first of July. 

In moving down, we were hoping to seek opportunities that hadn't previously existed to us - wife is a real estate appraiser and Midland, Tx has a shortage of those. That's also where I grew up, so moving home seemed like a good idea. There is also a shortage of private lesson teachers in many musical areas - I was told that my areas of expertise (French horn and music theory) would be in high demand. However, moving down here ran us into more issues than solutions. That is to say both my wife and I have experienced extensive radio silence from many parties. The banks and agencies that seemed so excited for her to move here have been slow to respond since moving here, if they respond at all. Similarly, although the band directors I have communicated with have all been very helpful, the administration that I have to report to to approve me to teach in the district is not responding at all. I have sent numerous emails, phone calls, and even went up to the administration building just to be met with confusion or not met at all.

We aren't in trouble yet. We had an okay savings set aside, but that will run out if we can't get more work soon. We are both feeling very defeated at the whole situation. Because of the pandemic, I'm understanding if responses are slow. However, I'm not understanding radio silence that lasts for several months. I understand if there are plenty of fires to put out and some emails slipping through the cracks, but I'm not understanding every email and phone call for 3 months slipping through the cracks.

I was trying to produce more music, but burnout killed that.

Thank you for joining the discussion! Since this thread happened, I've found a few new options.
I still use Sibelius due to large assignments still needing to be done. After May, I'll have more downtime. I'm going to give Dorico 3 a shot. Mainly because although Dorico isn't a DAW, it has gained so many more DAW like features. Now it gives the option to edit midi information and other automation things with envelopes. So although you do still need a DAW for audio purposes, most of the midi prep can be done in the notation software, and a lot of the changes can be changed and saved with the symbols. A FP dynamic can be mapped to a specific velocity curve and saved to a CC value, then exported with the midi. When imported into the DAW, this takes care of most of the editing work that would need to happen in the DAW normally.
So for the purposes of using notation software like a DAW, Dorico 3 looks to be the closest bet. It currently supports sample libraries, but their use is somewhat unwieldy. I'm fairly confident that by Dorico 4 the level of sample support will grow to a point when you can enter everything in notation, then do some editing in the same program, and have a mockup using samples that is much more efficient that ever before. Especially since it is highly likely that the template will be adjusted organically (assigning an accent symbol to automatically layer a staccato and legato patch at the same velocity). I wouldn't be surprised if this is already in the works, or does exist in 3 with some semblance of functionality.

For the first time in my life, I am in a position to have my own dedicated studio space. Up until now I've had to share a space with somebody who doesn't do music stuff (so I can't treat the space) and also I haven't had access to it at all times. Right now I'm sharing with my wife who uses the space for her office as a real estate appraiser for ~8 hours per day.

Anyway!

I'm moving into a house, and I have space in the backyard to build a dedicated studio building. Some family members have agreed to help me build the thing, so I really only have to pay for materials. I have some plans for the acoustic treatment (mainly how to build those myself), but nothing set in stone yet.

The purpose of this studio will be mostly for recording brass instruments (primarily French horn). I am wanting to treat the space with this in mind. It'll most likely be a 19'x13' space. I can make it smaller, but not bigger. I would prefer not to make it smaller, as small spaces are not only harder to play in for brass instruments, but also make the sound less than desirable, and harder to work with (especially with horn).

Does anybody have any things I should consider, any advice, etc? Has anybody built a studio from the ground up and can offer things they learned? Are there any quality of life or convenience things that I should consider?

For the first time in my life, I am in a position to have my own dedicated studio space. Up until now I've had to share a space with somebody who doesn't do music stuff (so I can't treat the space) and also I haven't had access to it at all times. Right now I'm sharing with my wife who uses the space for her office as a real estate appraiser for ~8 hours per day.

Anyway!

I'm moving into a house, and I have space in the backyard to build a dedicated studio building. Some family members have agreed to help me build the thing, so I really only have to pay for materials. I have some plans for the acoustic treatment (mainly how to build those myself), but nothing set in stone yet.

The purpose of this studio will be mostly for recording brass instruments (primarily French horn). I am wanting to treat the space with this in mind. It'll most likely be a 19'x13' space. I can make it smaller, but not bigger. I would prefer not to make it smaller, as small spaces are not only harder to play in for brass instruments, but also make the sound less than desirable, and harder to work with (especially with horn).

Does anybody have any things I should consider, any advice, etc? Has anybody built a studio from the ground up and can offer things they learned? Are there any quality of life or convenience things that I should consider?

The Corona has caused a lot of changes in my life, some positive, some negative.

I'm a band director normally, and that is not something that translates to online well. I get tons of people telling me "just make a virtual ensemble" or "use this time to teach theory or production" at which point I point out that I'm not the only band director in the district, and I am in charge of the remedial kids. IE, a middle school band made up of mostly 7th graders that were at the bottom of their beginner classes the previous year. So the online transition has not been easy, fun, or productive. I feel like such a lazy POS, because I have tried to do the absolute minimum amount of work as a teacher, when in reality I know that a lot of the kids I teach are  not self motivated by any stretch of the imagination. I can give playing assignments, etc, but does that actually teach anything? The district policy is one assignment per week, and you have to balance that with the core classes, which take priority. So I can't really teach much during this time. That is a lot more stressful than you would think.

Because of that, I've gotten time to do other things that I haven't had time to do. My workload dropped from 80-110 hours per week to about 10, which is pretty much 2 full time jobs' worth of time. So what have I been doing with it?

I've started producing more music. Original music, VGM arrangements to be released on a YouTube channel starting at the end of the month, writing scripts for some educational theory content I want to produce, etc. I've also been able to practice horn as much as I need to (2 hours per day minimum). I've been able to start walking again, and do 4-6 miles per day. On the walk I answer emails from my phone if needed. 

I've also started studying Japanese again. I've missed doing that a lot, and it's nice to be back.

This all sounds like a lot, but it actually gives me a routine to use - 
Wake up 8:30, walk 8:40-10:15 or so.
Study Japanese from then until right before noon, then check morning turnip prices in AC.
Short lunch, then practice until 2 or 3.
From 3 to 10 is whatever else I feel like doing. Sometimes arranging, sometimes streaming, etc.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

It's the day before Thanksgiving.

I'm thankful for this community and the people in it.

You guys are pretty neat.

Video game remixing isn't an industry because the concept of what makes a remix is very vague, and isn't agreed upon.

If you define it as an arrangement of video game music and released for profit, there is an industry for it. The issue is that some people refer to it as "cover" rather than "remix." Go to youtube, and you'll find thousands of remixes posted frequently, many for profit. Some of the largest channels doing it make a decent amount of money doing it. Even more, there is a record label - Materia Collective that publishes arrangement albums several times per year. These are albums of remixes, but they generally aren't called that.

On the area of copyright, plenty of people understand it just fine. The main bit is to understand is what a mechanical and sync license are. Pretty much everybody that releases VGM arrangements for profit on a large scale secures a proper license. Even then, most of, if not all of the OCR staff understand copyright on a functional level to make the site function and to keep the community in a safe place.
So then I ask what you mean by enhance? I think it's going just fine. We have significant people that are working hard to advance the industry, in many different places. Would you suggest improving education on copyright? A centralized database of artists?
I do have opinions about what I disagree with in the industry, but I generally stay quiet about them. I apply those opinions to my own work.
 
Anime is a different thing altogether. Releasing anime music in the US is difficult mainly because of the much smaller number of soundtrack releases in American storefronts. Because of the smaller number of legal releases, securing mechanical licenses (for albums) and sync licenses (for videos) is much more difficult. You won't see many people releasing anime remixes for profit because of the legal risks involved.

Video game remixing isn't an industry because the concept of what makes a remix is very vague, and isn't agreed upon.

If you define it as an arrangement of video game music and released for profit, there is an industry for it. The issue is that some people refer to it as "cover" rather than "remix." Go to youtube, and you'll find thousands of remixes posted frequently, many for profit. Some of the largest channels doing it make a decent amount of money doing it. Even more, there is a record label - Materia Collective that publishes arrangement albums several times per year. These are albums of remixes, but they generally aren't called that.

On the area of copyright, plenty of people understand it just fine. The main bit is to understand is what a mechanical and sync license are. Pretty much everybody that releases VGM arrangements for profit on a large scale secures a proper license. Even then, most of, if not all of the OCR staff understand copyright on a functional level to make the site function and to keep the community in a safe place.
So then I ask what you mean by enhance? I think it's going just fine. We have significant people that are working hard to advance the industry, in many different places. Would you suggest improving education on copyright? A centralized database of artists?
I do have opinions about what I disagree with in the industry, but I generally stay quiet about them. I apply those opinions to my own work.
 
Anime is a different thing altogether. Releasing anime music in the US is difficult mainly because of the much smaller number of soundtrack releases in American storefronts. Because of the smaller number of legal releases, securing mechanical licenses (for albums) and sync licenses (for videos) is much more difficult. You won't see many people releasing anime remixes for profit because of the legal risks involved.

Video game remixing isn't an industry because the concept of what makes a remix is very vague, and isn't agreed upon.

If you define it as an arrangement of video game music and released for profit, there is an industry for it. The issue is that some people refer to it as "cover" rather than "remix." Go to youtube, and you'll find thousands of remixes posted frequently, many for profit. Some of the largest channels doing it make a decent amount of money doing it. Even more, there is a record label - Materia Collective that publishes arrangement albums several times per year. These are albums of remixes, but they generally aren't called that.

On the area of copyright, plenty of people understand it just fine. The main bit is to understand is what a mechanical and sync license are. Pretty much everybody that releases VGM arrangements for profit on a large scale secures a proper license. Even then, most of, if not all of the OCR staff understand copyright on a functional level to make the site function and to keep the community in a safe place.
So then I ask what you mean by enhance? I think it's going just fine. We have significant people that are working hard to advance the industry, in many different places. Would you suggest improving education on copyright? A centralized database of artists?
I do have opinions about what I disagree with in the industry, but I generally stay quiet about them. I apply those opinions to my own work.
 
Anime is a different thing altogether. Releasing anime music in the US is difficult mainly because of the much smaller number of soundtrack releases in American storefronts. Because of the smaller number of legal releases, securing mechanical licenses (for albums) and sync licenses (for videos) is much more difficult. You won't see many people releasing anime remixes for profit because of the legal risks involved.

https://thegamebrass.bandcamp.com/album/brasslevania-a-tribute-to-the-video-game-macabre

Hello! I'm JohnStacy. You may know me from such places as this website and discord. You may also know me as a session brass player who plays for various video game soundtracks and soundtrack arrange albums. Today I come to you with an album from a group I'm involved in, that will release next week and is available for preorder right now.
This album is Brasslevania, a fully licensed arrangement album. This includes music from several Castlevania games, Luigi's Mansion, Deltarune, and others. The description of the album does it justice, so I'll just paste that here:

The Game Brass have teamed up again with arranger Thomas Kresge to bring you "Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre"! Featuring some of the finest ghost, horror, and skeleton-themed music in video games, Brasslevania includes over 20 tracks from such classics as Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Deltarune, Castlevania, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Celeste, and more. For this album, the quintet has expanded to a 9-piece brass ensemble and invited an array of special guests, including Mariachi Entertainment System, to the party. Equal parts spine-chilling, terrifying, and cadaverous, Brasslevania brings you the biggest Game Brass sound you've heard yet!
I played french horn on this album, and am featured on a few tracks (mainly Voyager, Life is Beautiful, and The Grim Fandango Suite). The other guys who played are all my friends and we had a blast putting this together.
On behalf of the Game Brass, I hope you enjoy Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre!

https://thegamebrass.bandcamp.com/album/brasslevania-a-tribute-to-the-video-game-macabre

Hello! I'm JohnStacy. You may know me from such places as this website and discord. You may also know me as a session brass player who plays for various video game soundtracks and soundtrack arrange albums. Today I come to you with an album from a group I'm involved in, that will release next week and is available for preorder right now.
This album is Brasslevania, a fully licensed arrangement album. This includes music from several Castlevania games, Luigi's Mansion, Deltarune, and others. The description of the album does it justice, so I'll just paste that here:

The Game Brass have teamed up again with arranger Thomas Kresge to bring you "Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre"! Featuring some of the finest ghost, horror, and skeleton-themed music in video games, Brasslevania includes over 20 tracks from such classics as Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Deltarune, Castlevania, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Celeste, and more. For this album, the quintet has expanded to a 9-piece brass ensemble and invited an array of special guests, including Mariachi Entertainment System, to the party. Equal parts spine-chilling, terrifying, and cadaverous, Brasslevania brings you the biggest Game Brass sound you've heard yet!
I played french horn on this album, and am featured on a few tracks (mainly Voyager, Life is Beautiful, and The Grim Fandango Suite). The other guys who played are all my friends and we had a blast putting this together.
On behalf of the Game Brass, I hope you enjoy Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre!

https://thegamebrass.bandcamp.com/album/brasslevania-a-tribute-to-the-video-game-macabre

Hello! I'm JohnStacy. You may know me from such places as this website and discord. You may also know me as a session brass player who plays for various video game soundtracks and soundtrack arrange albums. Today I come to you with an album from a group I'm involved in, that will release next week and is available for preorder right now.
This album is Brasslevania, a fully licensed arrangement album. This includes music from several Castlevania games, Luigi's Mansion, Deltarune, and others. The description of the album does it justice, so I'll just paste that here:

The Game Brass have teamed up again with arranger Thomas Kresge to bring you "Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre"! Featuring some of the finest ghost, horror, and skeleton-themed music in video games, Brasslevania includes over 20 tracks from such classics as Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Deltarune, Castlevania, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Celeste, and more. For this album, the quintet has expanded to a 9-piece brass ensemble and invited an array of special guests, including Mariachi Entertainment System, to the party. Equal parts spine-chilling, terrifying, and cadaverous, Brasslevania brings you the biggest Game Brass sound you've heard yet!
I played french horn on this album, and am featured on a few tracks (mainly Voyager, Life is Beautiful, and The Grim Fandango Suite). The other guys who played are all my friends and we had a blast putting this together.
On behalf of the Game Brass, I hope you enjoy Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre!

https://thegamebrass.bandcamp.com/album/brasslevania-a-tribute-to-the-video-game-macabre

Hello! I'm JohnStacy. You may know me from such places as this website and discord. You may also know me as a session brass player who plays for various video game soundtracks and soundtrack arrange albums. Today I come to you with an album from a group I'm involved in, that will release next week and is available for preorder right now.
This album is Brasslevania, a fully licensed arrangement album. This includes music from several Castlevania games, Luigi's Mansion, Deltarune, and others. The description of the album does it justice, so I'll just paste that here:

The Game Brass have teamed up again with arranger Thomas Kresge to bring you "Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre"! Featuring some of the finest ghost, horror, and skeleton-themed music in video games, Brasslevania includes over 20 tracks from such classics as Banjo-Kazooie, Super Mario World, Final Fantasy, Pokémon, Deltarune, Castlevania, Grim Fandango, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Celeste, and more. For this album, the quintet has expanded to a 9-piece brass ensemble and invited an array of special guests, including Mariachi Entertainment System, to the party. Equal parts spine-chilling, terrifying, and cadaverous, Brasslevania brings you the biggest Game Brass sound you've heard yet!
I played french horn on this album, and am featured on a few tracks (mainly Voyager, Life is Beautiful, and The Grim Fandango Suite). The other guys who played are all my friends and we had a blast putting this together.
On behalf of the Game Brass, I hope you enjoy Brasslevania: A Tribute to the Video Game Macabre!

I do a lot of recording and work with a lot of people who record live, acoustic instruments. I can't really speak for synthesizers, or sampled instruments. For the most part, most of the people I work with are in consensus on this area. Basically, going above 48k for uncompressed audio doesn't carry enough benefits to do it for every project. Generally, since people recording for these projects use 48k, the end project file also ends up being in 48k.

I have been asked to record above 48khz (the standard I deal with) twice. Once was at 96, once was at...192? That one was a pain because 192khz wav takes up so much space and transferring that monster took hours. The consensus with people I work with is that 48 is ideal for most purposes, 96 is great for blending remote sessions, and above that doesn't make enough of a difference to justify the increased resource requirements (hard drive space and processor power).

One minute of 48k wav is about 15mb. One minute of 192k wav is about 45mb (3 times the size). If I'm recording a multitracked brass section of 4 trumpets, 4 horns, 4 trombones, and a tuba (like I do for some clients), for a track that is 4 minutes long, I'm going to be playing about 2 to 2 and a half minutes for each track. This is 26 to 34 minutes of audio. At 48k wav, this is 390 to 510 mb of audio on the hard drive, and in RAM. For 192k, this is 1170 to 1530 mb of audio on the hard drive, and in RAM. That is much more resource heavy. The difference in sound quality isn't big enough to justify that.

If I were doing this for How to Save the World in 20 Minutes or Less (24 minute recording), you can do the math to find out how obnoxiously large that can get. I recorded that in 48k (and requested other performers to do the same) and the end result is definitely to my liking.
So that is my take on it. Although higher sample rates are appropriate for some instances, I don't ever really use them because 48-96 is appropriate for almost everything I'm involved in.
 

I have read the comments on the youtube, and one comment really stuck out to me that I think explains why it is so divisive, mainly relating to the philosophy of creating new arrangements of video game music.
The comment, let me find it:
So this is probably the largest difference in the way I process game music vs how I think others do, mainly in the general public who do not produce music actively (casual listeners). This isn't a right vs. wrong issue, this is really more of a perception and philosophy difference/disagreement. This is healthy and should happen in any community that isn't toxic.

For the most part, game music for me is divorced from the game it comes from. I have been told on some of my previous work (back before I had an internet presence) that "this doesn't sound like a battle theme" or similar comments. At one point I did a stripper tempo swing version of Megalovania from Undertale. It went really slow, just to play up the sleaze. For the most part, it was *destroyed* by people who heard it, almost like I committed blasphemy.
OCR is full of creative arrangements, but the whole line is accessibility. For the most part, if you did a calm, ending theme as an upbeat 80s synthwave track, nobody would really complain about it because they can relate to the style. Something much more classically oriented that's out of left field like this doesn't really give much to relate to (unless you listen to a lot of music in this style). It is kind of like listening to some avant-garde jazz and not enjoying it because you don't really listen to a lot of it and don't really "get" its nuance (I am like this with most of the more distant subgenres of metal, for example).
When I do arrangements of game music, almost always I'm trying to do one of two things, and you can hear this from the things posted on this site.

1. Have some fun with a tune I really enjoy or remember fondly, combined with writing some fun stuff to play (Cazador, Journey Never Ends, unrelated but everything I do for Materia Collective falls under this category). This usually ends up being very relatable for most people.

2. Experiment and really push myself in something I'm not familiar with, or explore a style of music I enjoy (Protoman, Reflecting Pool, As Blew the Winds). These are mainly used to develop my skills, and I really don't give much consideration to the audience or making it an way that it means anything outside of itself. This is where the disagreement lies.

So in the most sincere way possible, I REALLY don't care that the Mario fanbase wouldn't listen to this and be reminded of Mario. That wasn't the point. That wasn't even close to the point.

I have read the comments on the youtube, and one comment really stuck out to me that I think explains why it is so divisive, mainly relating to the philosophy of creating new arrangements of video game music.
The comment, let me find it:
So this is probably the largest difference in the way I process game music vs how I think others do, mainly in the general public who do not produce music actively (casual listeners). This isn't a right vs. wrong issue, this is really more of a perception and philosophy difference/disagreement. This is healthy and should happen in any community that isn't toxic.

For the most part, game music for me is divorced from the game it comes from. I have been told on some of my previous work (back before I had an internet presence) that "this doesn't sound like a battle theme" or similar comments. At one point I did a stripper tempo swing version of Megalovania from Undertale. It went really slow, just to play up the sleaze. For the most part, it was *destroyed* by people who heard it, almost like I committed blasphemy.
OCR is full of creative arrangements, but the whole line is accessibility. For the most part, if you did a calm, ending theme as an upbeat 80s synthwave track, nobody would really complain about it because they can relate to the style. Something much more classically oriented that's out of left field like this doesn't really give much to relate to (unless you listen to a lot of music in this style). It is kind of like listening to some avant-garde jazz and not enjoying it because you don't really listen to a lot of it and don't really "get" its nuance (I am like this with most of the more distant subgenres of metal, for example).
When I do arrangements of game music, almost always I'm trying to do one of two things, and you can hear this from the things posted on this site.

1. Have some fun with a tune I really enjoy or remember fondly, combined with writing some fun stuff to play (Cazador, Journey Never Ends, unrelated but everything I do for Materia Collective falls under this category). This usually ends up being very relatable for most people.

2. Experiment and really push myself in something I'm not familiar with, or explore a style of music I enjoy (Protoman, Reflecting Pool, As Blew the Winds). These are mainly used to develop my skills, and I really don't give much consideration to the audience or making it an way that it means anything outside of itself. This is where the disagreement lies.

So in the most sincere way possible, I REALLY don't care that the Mario fanbase wouldn't listen to this and be reminded of Mario. That wasn't the point. That wasn't even close to the point.

I have read the comments on the youtube, and one comment really stuck out to me that I think explains why it is so divisive, mainly relating to the philosophy of creating new arrangements of video game music.
The comment, let me find it:
So this is probably the largest difference in the way I process game music vs how I think others do, mainly in the general public who do not produce music actively (casual listeners). This isn't a right vs. wrong issue, this is really more of a perception and philosophy difference/disagreement. This is healthy and should happen in any community that isn't toxic.

For the most part, game music for me is divorced from the game it comes from. I have been told on some of my previous work (back before I had an internet presence) that "this doesn't sound like a battle theme" or similar comments. At one point I did a stripper tempo swing version of Megalovania from Undertale. It went really slow, just to play up the sleaze. For the most part, it was *destroyed* by people who heard it, almost like I committed blasphemy.
OCR is full of creative arrangements, but the whole line is accessibility. For the most part, if you did a calm, ending theme as an upbeat 80s synthwave track, nobody would really complain about it because they can relate to the style. Something much more classically oriented that's out of left field like this doesn't really give much to relate to (unless you listen to a lot of music in this style). It is kind of like listening to some avant-garde jazz and not enjoying it because you don't really listen to a lot of it and don't really "get" its nuance (I am like this with most of the more distant subgenres of metal, for example).
When I do arrangements of game music, almost always I'm trying to do one of two things, and you can hear this from the things posted on this site.

1. Have some fun with a tune I really enjoy or remember fondly, combined with writing some fun stuff to play (Cazador, Journey Never Ends, unrelated but everything I do for Materia Collective falls under this category). This usually ends up being very relatable for most people.

2. Experiment and really push myself in something I'm not familiar with, or explore a style of music I enjoy (Protoman, Reflecting Pool, As Blew the Winds). These are mainly used to develop my skills, and I really don't give much consideration to the audience or making it an way that it means anything outside of itself. This is where the disagreement lies.

So in the most sincere way possible, I REALLY don't care that the Mario fanbase wouldn't listen to this and be reminded of Mario. That wasn't the point. That wasn't even close to the point.

I have read the comments on the youtube, and one comment really stuck out to me that I think explains why it is so divisive, mainly relating to the philosophy of creating new arrangements of video game music.
The comment, let me find it:
So this is probably the largest difference in the way I process game music vs how I think others do, mainly in the general public who do not produce music actively (casual listeners). This isn't a right vs. wrong issue, this is really more of a perception and philosophy difference/disagreement. This is healthy and should happen in any community that isn't toxic.

For the most part, game music for me is divorced from the game it comes from. I have been told on some of my previous work (back before I had an internet presence) that "this doesn't sound like a battle theme" or similar comments. At one point I did a stripper tempo swing version of Megalovania from Undertale. It went really slow, just to play up the sleaze. For the most part, it was *destroyed* by people who heard it, almost like I committed blasphemy.
OCR is full of creative arrangements, but the whole line is accessibility. For the most part, if you did a calm, ending theme as an upbeat 80s synthwave track, nobody would really complain about it because they can relate to the style. Something much more classically oriented that's out of left field like this doesn't really give much to relate to (unless you listen to a lot of music in this style). It is kind of like listening to some avant-garde jazz and not enjoying it because you don't really listen to a lot of it and don't really "get" its nuance (I am like this with most of the more distant subgenres of metal, for example).
When I do arrangements of game music, almost always I'm trying to do one of two things, and you can hear this from the things posted on this site.

1. Have some fun with a tune I really enjoy or remember fondly, combined with writing some fun stuff to play (Cazador, Journey Never Ends, unrelated but everything I do for Materia Collective falls under this category). This usually ends up being very relatable for most people.

2. Experiment and really push myself in something I'm not familiar with, or explore a style of music I enjoy (Protoman, Reflecting Pool, As Blew the Winds). These are mainly used to develop my skills, and I really don't give much consideration to the audience or making it an way that it means anything outside of itself. This is where the disagreement lies.

So in the most sincere way possible, I REALLY don't care that the Mario fanbase wouldn't listen to this and be reminded of Mario. That wasn't the point. That wasn't even close to the point.