JohnStacy

So I posted a rant on here recently about feeling like people who don't really belong get handed jobs while I have to work really hard to get even considered.  Mostly it's a political game and the good ole boys from the university get everything in the area, but still felt good to complain about  it.

This is decently related.
A point I bring up occasionally in discussions relates to saturation of the market.  I'm going to venture into a subcategory and talk about mainstream vs. niche.
I can't remember the thread, but somebody was basically asking how to be successful in the VGM scene, and why they weren't being successful.  Asking what they did, they did metal covers of mainly 8-bit music.  The discussion was productive, constructive, and a lot of good communication happened. (another thing I'm happy about OCR btw, teacher gatherings can turn into acid raining down form the sky)  An example I give is Wily Stage from Megaman 2, and the comically absurd amount of metal covers there are of it.  By cover I mean note for note from the original but with guitars.  So if you're a metal guitarist, doing covers of Wily Stage, and you basically sound the same as the 1200 other people who have already done it, your youtube channel will have 6 subscribers and 40 total views, because you don't stand out.  Very few people want to wade through 1200 virtually identical metal covers of Wily Stage hoping they find a good one.

When it comes to mainstream music (here referring to what is produced on a large stream for mass audiences), this both applies and doesn't.  It has to be somewhat new and fresh, but also very accessible to the average listener, but even then, no it doesn't.  Talking with people about modern Christian worship music, it basically has turned into generic love song, but shaded to fit in a worship context.  Why does it sound distinctive from pop music?  Because it kind of developed in a musical vacuum.  It evolved largely on its own which is why it didn't really follow pop trends as closely.  Christian record labels were, and still are somewhat niche.  Quick look at a stats site tells me that it makes about half the revenue of country music.  I live in Texas.  Country music is a BIG deal here.  Christian music is a BIGGER deal here.  There are a lot of bands that do Christian music but refuse the label so that they aren't put in that box where people won't listen to them.  The watering down of the genre is a result of the labels avoiding risks.  That doesn't have much grounding in reality, since a lot of the people are buying the music because it's available and it's basically the least bad option.
Where to go from here?  People are generally a lot more open to unique music than the labels give them credit for.  Honestly, if the radio stations and everywhere were to start blaring pop music based on 12 tone music from 1910, eventually people would think that 12 tone influenced pop were the new thing.  Exposure makes people tend to enjoy things.  A lot of pop music really is very bad.  But if you hear it a few times, the familiarity of it makes it not seem that bad.
A lot of musicians are trying to do that.  They're trying to be the next big thing, and as a result they end up with a sound that resembles the current big thing, but isn't very distinctive.  I'm really talking on a large scale.  Every musician has something that makes them stand out, if they're doing original works.  But really, if there are 20 bands out there trying to be the next big thing, and they are all sounding like Portugal. the Man, but not as high quality, why would anybody listen to them when they could just listen to the real one?  When it comes to people talking about a saturated market, they're exactly right.  There are too many people trying to go where the money is, and they end up sounding like the other people going where the money is.  Personal dig, a lot of guitar players I know that complain about not being successful have absolutely no regard for musicality or style, but still insist on doing their thing that doesn't work. The ones who do something different enough to stand out, but similar enough to blend in are the ones who succeed.
I really think a lot of the state of the music industry today, with mainstream music is directly related to the lessening of value of music in the school system.  A lot of elementary music education in the US is a joke, and I think it's the reason for a lot of problems in the music industry.  In a lot of public schools, which the majority of the population goes to, music education is edutainment that doesn't actually teach music.  By the end of 4th or 5th grade, the students might can sing a single line matching pitch, but even that is a stretch sometimes.  It's not a fault by the music teachers, a lot of them only see a specific group of kids once a week, the other days of the week are other groups of kids.  And there's a lot of red tape, and there's really short class times (~30 minutes), and this and that.  Plus, economic issues causing kids to be hard to teach (why should I pay attention in class when I haven't eaten in 3 days and I don't know if I'll ever see my dad again because mom's new boyfriend beat him up again).  Then there's secondary education, mostly band, orchestra, or choir, which is optional and being cut more and more as the days go on.  The simplification and homogenization of pop music wouldn't be noticed at all because most of the population doesn't actually know anything about music.
When I stand in front of students, especially those in rural schools, the students have this idea that music is what they hear on the radio.  Music in school is something that vaguely resembles music, but is boring.  I can show the trumpet players Maynard Ferguson, Herp Alpert, or the saxophone players Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and they will be in awe.  But the trumpet or saxophone they hold in their hands they insist is a completely different instrument.  I can grab their trumpet and play the Gonna Fly Now solo and they will still insist it's a completely different instrument (subconsciously).  Beyond that, okay, I played my boring band music, can I got beat the snot out of the drumset now?  Marching band is what these kids really like, only for the reason that they get to play the music they hear on the radio in band.  All other music they play is just sound that resembles music and is just filler, and as a result they just affirm that they aren't musicians and just listen to the popular music.  This creates a demand that affirms that the labels and other sources should just be conservative with what they sell.  They have the marketing money, so they win.
Wow.  This went on for a while.  I haven't tried to really succeed in the music industry proper, mainly because all my performance experience is in live gigs, and small time studio work.  I'm not trying to market JohnStacy the artist to try to sell music to whoever.  I'm happy doing that, and doing the teaching thing.  But, I'm getting more and more of those gigs because I'm similar (a brass player who can play both classical and jazz, and can work in any musical setting) but different (I'm a french horn player who can do this, and do this well, in a lot of cases better and more reliable than the trumpet and trombone players).  I'm also observing people around me, both in person and on the internet.  A lot of the ones doing well are doing something unique, but accessible and know how to market themselves.

So I posted a rant on here recently about feeling like people who don't really belong get handed jobs while I have to work really hard to get even considered.  Mostly it's a political game and the good ole boys from the university get everything in the area, but still felt good to complain about  it.

This is decently related.
A point I bring up occasionally in discussions relates to saturation of the market.  I'm going to venture into a subcategory and talk about mainstream vs. niche.
I can't remember the thread, but somebody was basically asking how to be successful in the VGM scene, and why they weren't being successful.  Asking what they did, they did metal covers of mainly 8-bit music.  The discussion was productive, constructive, and a lot of good communication happened. (another thing I'm happy about OCR btw, teacher gatherings can turn into acid raining down form the sky)  An example I give is Wily Stage from Megaman 2, and the comically absurd amount of metal covers there are of it.  By cover I mean note for note from the original but with guitars.  So if you're a metal guitarist, doing covers of Wily Stage, and you basically sound the same as the 1200 other people who have already done it, your youtube channel will have 6 subscribers and 40 total views, because you don't stand out.  Very few people want to wade through 1200 virtually identical metal covers of Wily Stage hoping they find a good one.

When it comes to mainstream music (here referring to what is produced on a large stream for mass audiences), this both applies and doesn't.  It has to be somewhat new and fresh, but also very accessible to the average listener, but even then, no it doesn't.  Talking with people about modern Christian worship music, it basically has turned into generic love song, but shaded to fit in a worship context.  Why does it sound distinctive from pop music?  Because it kind of developed in a musical vacuum.  It evolved largely on its own which is why it didn't really follow pop trends as closely.  Christian record labels were, and still are somewhat niche.  Quick look at a stats site tells me that it makes about half the revenue of country music.  I live in Texas.  Country music is a BIG deal here.  Christian music is a BIGGER deal here.  There are a lot of bands that do Christian music but refuse the label so that they aren't put in that box where people won't listen to them.  The watering down of the genre is a result of the labels avoiding risks.  That doesn't have much grounding in reality, since a lot of the people are buying the music because it's available and it's basically the least bad option.
Where to go from here?  People are generally a lot more open to unique music than the labels give them credit for.  Honestly, if the radio stations and everywhere were to start blaring pop music based on 12 tone music from 1910, eventually people would think that 12 tone influenced pop were the new thing.  Exposure makes people tend to enjoy things.  A lot of pop music really is very bad.  But if you hear it a few times, the familiarity of it makes it not seem that bad.
A lot of musicians are trying to do that.  They're trying to be the next big thing, and as a result they end up with a sound that resembles the current big thing, but isn't very distinctive.  I'm really talking on a large scale.  Every musician has something that makes them stand out, if they're doing original works.  But really, if there are 20 bands out there trying to be the next big thing, and they are all sounding like Portugal. the Man, but not as high quality, why would anybody listen to them when they could just listen to the real one?  When it comes to people talking about a saturated market, they're exactly right.  There are too many people trying to go where the money is, and they end up sounding like the other people going where the money is.  Personal dig, a lot of guitar players I know that complain about not being successful have absolutely no regard for musicality or style, but still insist on doing their thing that doesn't work. The ones who do something different enough to stand out, but similar enough to blend in are the ones who succeed.
I really think a lot of the state of the music industry today, with mainstream music is directly related to the lessening of value of music in the school system.  A lot of elementary music education in the US is a joke, and I think it's the reason for a lot of problems in the music industry.  In a lot of public schools, which the majority of the population goes to, music education is edutainment that doesn't actually teach music.  By the end of 4th or 5th grade, the students might can sing a single line matching pitch, but even that is a stretch sometimes.  It's not a fault by the music teachers, a lot of them only see a specific group of kids once a week, the other days of the week are other groups of kids.  And there's a lot of red tape, and there's really short class times (~30 minutes), and this and that.  Plus, economic issues causing kids to be hard to teach (why should I pay attention in class when I haven't eaten in 3 days and I don't know if I'll ever see my dad again because mom's new boyfriend beat him up again).  Then there's secondary education, mostly band, orchestra, or choir, which is optional and being cut more and more as the days go on.  The simplification and homogenization of pop music wouldn't be noticed at all because most of the population doesn't actually know anything about music.
When I stand in front of students, especially those in rural schools, the students have this idea that music is what they hear on the radio.  Music in school is something that vaguely resembles music, but is boring.  I can show the trumpet players Maynard Ferguson, Herp Alpert, or the saxophone players Charlie Parker, John Coltrane, and they will be in awe.  But the trumpet or saxophone they hold in their hands they insist is a completely different instrument.  I can grab their trumpet and play the Gonna Fly Now solo and they will still insist it's a completely different instrument (subconsciously).  Beyond that, okay, I played my boring band music, can I got beat the snot out of the drumset now?  Marching band is what these kids really like, only for the reason that they get to play the music they hear on the radio in band.  All other music they play is just sound that resembles music and is just filler, and as a result they just affirm that they aren't musicians and just listen to the popular music.  This creates a demand that affirms that the labels and other sources should just be conservative with what they sell.  They have the marketing money, so they win.
Wow.  This went on for a while.  I haven't tried to really succeed in the music industry proper, mainly because all my performance experience is in live gigs, and small time studio work.  I'm not trying to market JohnStacy the artist to try to sell music to whoever.  I'm happy doing that, and doing the teaching thing.  But, I'm getting more and more of those gigs because I'm similar (a brass player who can play both classical and jazz, and can work in any musical setting) but different (I'm a french horn player who can do this, and do this well, in a lot of cases better and more reliable than the trumpet and trombone players).  I'm also observing people around me, both in person and on the internet.  A lot of the ones doing well are doing something unique, but accessible and know how to market themselves.

This happens all the time for many different people, so you're not alone by any means.  A thing to remember is the amount of exposure you have.  Find a recording you didn't have anything to do with.  Listen to it 100 times, and tell me you still like the sound of it as much as you did the first time.  With the best made recordings, you will to some extent, but most likely not.  Also, you know what your shortcomings are, so when you hear them over and over again it just kind of solidifies the idea that you have those shortcomings.  People who have not heard them over and over may not even notice.  For the most part, nobody will put a recording on as many times as you did making it, regardless of quality.

It's also important to take into account that your tastes evolve.  Sometimes you'll love something, then come back to it in a few months and hate everything about it (I can't stand to listen to my earlier work, or performances because of how much I've grown as a musician since producing them).  This just means what you see as good or ideal is changing constantly as is normal.
 
This one can be remedied by doing more listening.  Music isn't as original as people think it is, and you can use this to your advantage.  When working on a track, if you struggle to find out where to go next to finish a track, find somebody else who expressed the same sentiment you want to.  I work with big band arrangements quite a lot, and most of the time I do more listening to others' writing than actually working on the track.  There are tropes and idiomatic ways of writing that are common because of how solid they are.  Don't steal them note for note, but do think critically about why they work or don't work, and see how you can apply that to what you're working on.  You mentioned piano solo, I actually have the scores of all of Debussy's solo piano works handy for whenever I need to write a solo piano piece.  "I want this musical idea, how could I express that?  How did Debussy express a similar thought, and what textures, harmonies, etc did he use to do it?"  In a jazz style I'll usually defer to solo performances mostly by Makoto Ozone and similar pianists.

Don't think of it like you're piggybacking off of other musicians.  When learning to talk for the first time, you didn't learn to talk in a vacuum did you?  All you're doing is listening for musical vocabulary to enrich your own.
 
 
I get this one entirely.  I only use the default sounds that came with Logic, mainly because I can't be bothered to get anything else that isn't free.  As a result I do as much with live instruments I can, which is why my music typically uses so much french horn and other brass (I'm a professional french horn player, and I have access to a good recording setup for that).  I also do a lot of jazz, which samples do not do well.  That said, there are all kinds of really good free sounds.  An example is the Sennheiser drum library (Drummic'a) that was released for free as an advertisement for their microphones.  It's definitely a solid drum sound that works for many things.  You can find these things if you look hard enough.  A lot of music composition and arranging is knowing how sounds work together, and the limitations of having bad sounds can spur creativity of how to work around them.  More easily said than done, I know.  But in college there were several times where we would have assignments like "this is a saxophone player who only has an octave of range that sounds good.  Write a solid piece that takes advantage of that.
Production concepts are universal.  Generally basic things like compression, EQ, and reverb, and even non plugin things like musicality, balance, and arrangement used correctly can do a lot for a track.  If you get solid with these fundamentals, you'll notice your sound will get better just because the sounds you have will work together better.
 
 
So a really easy way to find out where to go next is just focusing on one shortcoming that you have, and learning about it.  If you have a mix that sounds very loud, muddy, and noisy, look at balance and separation.  If you have a mix that sounds very stale and robotic, look at humanization.  If the mix lacks energy and seems very static, look up textures and orchestration techniques that can add variety to a mix. 

Alternatively you can sit down and say "I'm going to really nail this style in this track."  Let's say you wanted to write a solo piano mix in the style of Joe Hisaishi.  Do a lot of listening and transcribing solo piano works he's written (there are a lot of them because he's Joe Hisaishi).  Then when you sit down to write a thing, basically take note of what characteristics he uses in his writing, and see if you can use those in your writing so that your track will sound right at home among other Hisaishi tracks.  Listen, analyze, apply.  Then, once you have that one, move on to something else.  This applies to any style or genre.  Gradually, as you do this more, you will get better and better at it and will notice that learning comes much more naturally based on what you're interested in.

May I have Ruby Sunrise?

Actually I got two Paper Mario mixes in the works right now, both from the original.  Maybe might have a 3rd down the line, but I just have these two as part of my youtube project.  I won't do the entire soundtrack, I'm just picking my favorite tracks, but I hear your request and will answer.

Anytime somebody does an orchestral setting I get a little excited.
Orchestration is very nice.  There are a lot of good textures in use, both from the original setting, and with your personal choices. 
The first statement of the ocean theme at :41 I think could have a tiny bit more action in the strings.   They're just basically pads in the original, but for an orchestral arrangement, I don't think some added counterpoint would be unwelcome, simple things when the melody is sustaining.  Again at about 2:00, there is plenty going on in the brass so you don't need to make it more, but a slightly varied higher string texture.  The only reason I bring this up, is that lack of motion in the original bugged me just a little bit.  This is a tiny nitpicky thing.
The field theme is well done.
Transition to the sky theme, that would be breathtaking to hear live.

A thing I do in noteperformer is basically do 3 string layers.  One layer that is an ensemble, one layer of solo strings playing exactly the same thing, but down a dynamic level, and then a layer of short notes on the attacks, also down a dynamic.  I focus on the notes that would be a downbow when performed, and give those a marcato accent.  This is not needed in softer passages, just the heavier ones.  You can then hide those extra staves in sibelius so that your score doesn't get cluttered.  This is a small little thing that works wonders for the sound.  

If interested, I would enjoy recording horn for this.  It would be fun.

I can probably help with the organizing thing.  Deposit would be out of reach for me right now, but as far as handling organizing how this thing will go, I can at least contribute.

(Plus I'll see if I can get some good BBQ catered for a meal while we're there if I do contribute)

You can probably count me in at that point.

At the beginning, the electric piano I think could have some panning.
My first keyboard was a portable grand piano, and one of the electric piano presets had it oscillating from left to right and it was a pretty neat effect with the tone of the piano, which was similar to what you have at the beginning of the track. 
You have this lead guitar kind of sound a little bit into the track, I think it's just a tad bright (maybe a midtone sticking out) and it's a tad jarring at first.  The swelling guitar that happens is very effective tho, definitely keep going with that.

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On the thought of communities who don't have bars, they do have coffee shops.

I'm part of a small community that is growing and attempting to establish itself.  It will remain unnamed.  I'm doing some arranging for them, but mostly just being a brass player recording for people (I guess that describes my involvement in many communities at the moment).  They have a bar, kind of, but it's really low.  
I was used to OCR and the way they did things, came to this new one, and recorded for a guy.  I knew I wasn't the only one recording, but what ended up happening in that track was just playing all the recordings as they were sent on top of each other.  It sounded very weird because one of them was recorded in a tiny room, and one in a much bigger room.  And those differences were really pronounced.  
There were a few tracks that were this level, and while it wasn't bad, it was very unrefined and unpolished.  On the other end, it still is kind of weird that there will be check ins on progress and for the most part, people won't start their tracks until a week or less before deadline, and the end result sounds like they threw it together last minute.  However, it will still be sent out.  The majority of this community is producing good, well polished content, but there is that lower end that just seems to be winging it constantly and still passing the bar.
OCR I don't see as a gated community tho.  I see it more as a community that wants to present well polished works of a certain variety.  It's not that you have to pass the bar to be considered good, it's more like there's a certain type of production that is wanted.

On the thought of communities who don't have bars, they do have coffee shops.

I'm part of a small community that is growing and attempting to establish itself.  It will remain unnamed.  I'm doing some arranging for them, but mostly just being a brass player recording for people (I guess that describes my involvement in many communities at the moment).  They have a bar, kind of, but it's really low.  
I was used to OCR and the way they did things, came to this new one, and recorded for a guy.  I knew I wasn't the only one recording, but what ended up happening in that track was just playing all the recordings as they were sent on top of each other.  It sounded very weird because one of them was recorded in a tiny room, and one in a much bigger room.  And those differences were really pronounced.  
There were a few tracks that were this level, and while it wasn't bad, it was very unrefined and unpolished.  On the other end, it still is kind of weird that there will be check ins on progress and for the most part, people won't start their tracks until a week or less before deadline, and the end result sounds like they threw it together last minute.  However, it will still be sent out.  The majority of this community is producing good, well polished content, but there is that lower end that just seems to be winging it constantly and still passing the bar.
OCR I don't see as a gated community tho.  I see it more as a community that wants to present well polished works of a certain variety.  It's not that you have to pass the bar to be considered good, it's more like there's a certain type of production that is wanted.

On the thought of communities who don't have bars, they do have coffee shops.

I'm part of a small community that is growing and attempting to establish itself.  It will remain unnamed.  I'm doing some arranging for them, but mostly just being a brass player recording for people (I guess that describes my involvement in many communities at the moment).  They have a bar, kind of, but it's really low.  
I was used to OCR and the way they did things, came to this new one, and recorded for a guy.  I knew I wasn't the only one recording, but what ended up happening in that track was just playing all the recordings as they were sent on top of each other.  It sounded very weird because one of them was recorded in a tiny room, and one in a much bigger room.  And those differences were really pronounced.  
There were a few tracks that were this level, and while it wasn't bad, it was very unrefined and unpolished.  On the other end, it still is kind of weird that there will be check ins on progress and for the most part, people won't start their tracks until a week or less before deadline, and the end result sounds like they threw it together last minute.  However, it will still be sent out.  The majority of this community is producing good, well polished content, but there is that lower end that just seems to be winging it constantly and still passing the bar.
OCR I don't see as a gated community tho.  I see it more as a community that wants to present well polished works of a certain variety.  It's not that you have to pass the bar to be considered good, it's more like there's a certain type of production that is wanted.

On the thought of communities who don't have bars, they do have coffee shops.

I'm part of a small community that is growing and attempting to establish itself.  It will remain unnamed.  I'm doing some arranging for them, but mostly just being a brass player recording for people (I guess that describes my involvement in many communities at the moment).  They have a bar, kind of, but it's really low.  
I was used to OCR and the way they did things, came to this new one, and recorded for a guy.  I knew I wasn't the only one recording, but what ended up happening in that track was just playing all the recordings as they were sent on top of each other.  It sounded very weird because one of them was recorded in a tiny room, and one in a much bigger room.  And those differences were really pronounced.  
There were a few tracks that were this level, and while it wasn't bad, it was very unrefined and unpolished.  On the other end, it still is kind of weird that there will be check ins on progress and for the most part, people won't start their tracks until a week or less before deadline, and the end result sounds like they threw it together last minute.  However, it will still be sent out.  The majority of this community is producing good, well polished content, but there is that lower end that just seems to be winging it constantly and still passing the bar.
OCR I don't see as a gated community tho.  I see it more as a community that wants to present well polished works of a certain variety.  It's not that you have to pass the bar to be considered good, it's more like there's a certain type of production that is wanted.

I get basically all my music work from one of two places, session work and teaching.  Teaching is basically irrelevant to what you want to do so I'll leave it out completely.

The other thing is session work.  At this point I've all but abandoned arranging and composition of music in my career due to factors that make those areas really unattractive to me right now.  Generally I just record horn, but I also do stuff on trumpet and trombones as needed.  As a result I get a decent amount of work, not enough to survive off of but then again I'm not aiming to survive off that work, and as a result I'm not regularly and actively seeking it out.  (most of my time goes to teaching, and that's where my income comes from).  Upside is that I get to pick and choose what jobs I take, downside is that it isn't going in the direction I would like yet.  But it has led to some fun projects that have been decently successful, and it does add to the resume.

I've known of plenty of people who entered the industry as a session musician, then after building that reputation could move on to more of a frontman role in either performance or also arranging/composition.  One example is trumpet player Wayne Bergeron who was active as a performer from the early 80s until releasing his first album in like 2002.  During this time, however, he established himself as the go to lead trumpet player and recorded on many projects for quite a few big names.  By the time he wanted to make his own album, he already knew so many people that he recorded with that finding people to perform on his album was relatively easy, and his reputation as a performer removed the "proving himself" phase of being a solo artist.
A lot of music is who you know, and it is no different being a teacher, solo artist, sideman, or composer.  If you aren't really well known for anything, then it's really difficult to get known.  But if you play guitar/bass/horn/what have you for somebody who has a reputation, then that's a credit on your name.  Enough of these credits and people know you from one area or another, and then you can start building a thing.  By the time he recorded his album, Bergeron had already had something like 250 credits to his name with big names in the industry, as well as recording on quite a few movie soundtracks.  Similarly, Jerry Hey became really popular as an arranger for Quincy Jones, Earth Wind, and Fire, and other names like that.  His experience as a trumpet player led to arranging work which opened that door.
There are plenty of musicians on youtube that are REALLY great musicians, but they average 50 views a video, and maybe have 10 subscribers.  On the other hand, there are some musicians who really aren't that great, but they get 70k views a video and have 20k subscribers.  Difference?  People know who they are.  Other difference?  Marketing.  Some of the ones with basically no views and no subs are not really sticking out.  If there are 1500 guitarists all doing fairly similar metal covers of Megaman music, nobody is going to look through all 1500 of them.  A good majority of those will stay in obscurity no matter how good they are.
A lot of this may or may not apply to you, but for a question like this, any thoughts given help because of new perspective.  As for starting your career as a recording artist, I don't really have many thoughts because I've never tried to do that, and don't forsee it happening in the near future in my own career, so I've never really looked into what it takes exactly. 

I get basically all my music work from one of two places, session work and teaching.  Teaching is basically irrelevant to what you want to do so I'll leave it out completely.

The other thing is session work.  At this point I've all but abandoned arranging and composition of music in my career due to factors that make those areas really unattractive to me right now.  Generally I just record horn, but I also do stuff on trumpet and trombones as needed.  As a result I get a decent amount of work, not enough to survive off of but then again I'm not aiming to survive off that work, and as a result I'm not regularly and actively seeking it out.  (most of my time goes to teaching, and that's where my income comes from).  Upside is that I get to pick and choose what jobs I take, downside is that it isn't going in the direction I would like yet.  But it has led to some fun projects that have been decently successful, and it does add to the resume.

I've known of plenty of people who entered the industry as a session musician, then after building that reputation could move on to more of a frontman role in either performance or also arranging/composition.  One example is trumpet player Wayne Bergeron who was active as a performer from the early 80s until releasing his first album in like 2002.  During this time, however, he established himself as the go to lead trumpet player and recorded on many projects for quite a few big names.  By the time he wanted to make his own album, he already knew so many people that he recorded with that finding people to perform on his album was relatively easy, and his reputation as a performer removed the "proving himself" phase of being a solo artist.
A lot of music is who you know, and it is no different being a teacher, solo artist, sideman, or composer.  If you aren't really well known for anything, then it's really difficult to get known.  But if you play guitar/bass/horn/what have you for somebody who has a reputation, then that's a credit on your name.  Enough of these credits and people know you from one area or another, and then you can start building a thing.  By the time he recorded his album, Bergeron had already had something like 250 credits to his name with big names in the industry, as well as recording on quite a few movie soundtracks.  Similarly, Jerry Hey became really popular as an arranger for Quincy Jones, Earth Wind, and Fire, and other names like that.  His experience as a trumpet player led to arranging work which opened that door.
There are plenty of musicians on youtube that are REALLY great musicians, but they average 50 views a video, and maybe have 10 subscribers.  On the other hand, there are some musicians who really aren't that great, but they get 70k views a video and have 20k subscribers.  Difference?  People know who they are.  Other difference?  Marketing.  Some of the ones with basically no views and no subs are not really sticking out.  If there are 1500 guitarists all doing fairly similar metal covers of Megaman music, nobody is going to look through all 1500 of them.  A good majority of those will stay in obscurity no matter how good they are.
A lot of this may or may not apply to you, but for a question like this, any thoughts given help because of new perspective.  As for starting your career as a recording artist, I don't really have many thoughts because I've never tried to do that, and don't forsee it happening in the near future in my own career, so I've never really looked into what it takes exactly. 

@JohnStacy We had a strict band director in high school, but you could ALWAYS, always, always tell that he cared about the music, about the band, about what he was doing, and about what we were all doing. For this role especially, I think, any scent of apathy is absolutely toxic.
He'd occasionally provide some background on a given piece, or its composer, but I wish he'd done a little bit more of that, actually... not sure if most students would be interested in that, but I was.

I would like to contribute as a performer (all brass instruments, non brass instruments depending on the circumstance).
And also I heard there were voice acting roles?
I most likely won't be able to take a track to arrange this time around, but would love to contribute as much as possible!

I am a band director at a small town somewhere in Texas (there are about 30 kids in band there).
The title sums it up pretty well.  If you were in band in middle/high school, etc, what do you wish your director would have done differently?  Yelled less, been more strict, played more, anything. 
I'm just curious, and figured this would be a good thought experiment.  If you have a story you connect with your thought, feel free to share.

I would like to contribute as a performer (all brass instruments, non brass instruments depending on the circumstance).
And also I heard there were voice acting roles?
I most likely won't be able to take a track to arrange this time around, but would love to contribute as much as possible!

I would like to contribute as a performer (all brass instruments, non brass instruments depending on the circumstance).
And also I heard there were voice acting roles?
I most likely won't be able to take a track to arrange this time around, but would love to contribute as much as possible!

OH BOY YOU DON'T KNOW HOW EXCITED I AM THAT I SAW THIS WITHIN 8 HOURS OF POSTING CHRISTMAS MUSIC SEASON IS MY FAVORITE SEASON OF THE YEAR PERIOD AND I WAS SAD LAST TIME THAT I DIDN'T EVEN KNOW THIS WAS A THING UNTIL IT WAS TOO LATE TO BE A PART OF IT
I'll get back to you soon with what I'm doing for this.

And here... we... GO!

With Dyne having officially stepped down from this project, we're starting a new chapter in this long-running album series' life. No, it's not going all death polka or grunge barbershop quartet, it's simply been put under my watchful eye. And what that watchful eye saw was that we kept having one of two things happen. Either 1) it was started two months before the deadline and people had to cram work in for it, or 2) they had so much time that they kind of forgot about it. So, we're trying a middle ground this year. And what better middle ground than July, the month that retailers love to have a second Christmas in? Yes, while 2 months was awfully short notice and a full year made it slip peoples' minds, I figure a good five months might be about the right amount of time. Guess we'll see, huh?

This project is open to any and all OCR members, regardless of whether you're a posted remixer or not. And now, a few details...

When's The Project Deadline?- December 20th, 2017 at 11:59 P.M. EST.

This is now a REALLY hard, non-negotiable deadline, since it's very close to Christmas. We've had lots of last-minute entries and updates over the years and, to be perfectly honest, it shouldn't be that way. With months of time, having to hold off as long as possible for people made things pretty hectic for myself and Dyne in the past, between updating the artwork and getting everything uploaded. Treating this project like a college paper that doesn't get worked on until the last minute got annoying rather quickly when it kept adding up to lots of hurrying year after year. As such, you have until one minute before midnight EST on December 20th to get me the final WAV or MP3 of your song. After that, you're shit outta luck until next year. I need time to do everything, including possibly make a little website to host this one if Dyne isn't online for one reason or another. So this deadline's set in stone... PERIOD.

What Information Does The Coop Need?- When you send me your final versions, I'll need what name you want to use (real or remixer handle), the name of your remix and the name of the song you're remixing (in case someone asks what this or that remix is from). Plus, if you have a website you'd like to pimp, supply that as well and I can add it to the MP3 tags.

What Can Be Remixed?- Any song, really. Traditional Christmas carols, video game music, published music by a signed artist, music from TV/cartoons/anime... whatever gets your heart racing and into that Christmas spirit. This isn't an official OCR album, so you can draw from more sources than just VGM. Plus, you can take a non-Christmas tune, like the Main Theme from Space Harrier, Stage 6 Mission 2 from Metal Head, or I Defend STM from Truxton II, and turn it into a Christmasy one. So know that it's not limited only to songs that are Christmas-like to begin with. All that said, do keep in mind that if you want to submit your song to OCR later, you'll need to keep this site's guidelines in the back of your mind. But for this album, you can take it in just about any direction you want and get as crazy as you'd like (but please, no "Silver Bells" done in farts or something).

How Long Can My Song Be?- As long as you want it to be. There are no restrictions on this, so whether it's 1:30, or 9:51 with a five minute guitar solo ala Metallica, it's all good. But again, if you want to submit your song to OCR later, keep their guidelines in mind.

What Genres Can I Remix In?- Again, the door's wide open here. Rap, Metal, Pop, Piano-solo, Orchestral, Jazz, 8/16-bit, Barber Shop Quartet, A capella... it's up to you where you want to take it.

What Format Should I Submit My Song In?- WAV and/or an MP3 of at least 192KB/s quality. I'll be tagging the MP3s and making MP3s from any submitted wavs, so you don't have to worry about that. But, if you'd like your website to be in the MP3 comments section, be sure to give it to me when you submit your song.

How About A Little Music To Get Us In The Mood?- To help everyone along, here's a YouTube list of Christmasy tunes made by Ocre a number of years ago... http://ocremix.org/f...72&postcount=19

But remember, not all famous Christmas tunes are upbeat and cheerful. There are some that are more somber or haunting in tone, so you have more moods to play with than happy happy joy joy.

What's The Website's Address Again?- It's got a new home at... http://williammichael.info/aocc/ This album will still be download there as well, as Dyne will continue to host the albums on his site.

How Do We Contact This The Coop Person?- If you've got questions, comments, concerns, or your track is done and ready to be sent to me, you can PM me here on OCR, or send me an E-mail at thecoopscorner@gmail.com.

So yeah, there we go. You've got over five months to get something done for the lovely people of OverClocked Remix and the millions of listeners around the world who've become followers of our project.

Good luck, have fun and make everyone some Nice Work™!

Artists involved thus far...

The Coop (director, cover artist and remixer)
JohnStacy (remixer)
wildfire (remixer)
Ronald Poe (remixer)
HoboKa (remixer)
Ridiculously Garrett (remixer)
Skull (remixer)
PlanarianHugger (remixer)
TheChargingRhino (remixer)
Yannic Geerts (remixer)
Earth Kid (remixer)
CelestialSonata (remixer)

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!