Thirdkoopa

I'm happy to announce a couple of staffing changes here at OCR. First up, I wanna welcome @Hemophiliac to our Judges Panel! Hemo's been putting in the work for the last few years as one of our Workshop Evaluators, and has also stepped up in the past few months to handle a lot of the visualizers for the remixes you see on our YouTube channel. He's an active presence in our community and has a lot of helpful advice in the Workshop. We're glad to add him to the panel. Look forward to getting some fresh new NO votes on your tracks!
Speaking of Workshop Evaluators, a few months ago we retired our Ready for Review process in the Workshop because we felt that it was a cumbersome extra layer of evaluation prior to submitting to the Judge's Panel. Our Evaluators did a lot of great work over the years but we're retiring that role. In it's place, we're introducing our new team called Sages! Sages are active artists in our community who'll be in the Workshop giving feedback on remixes, posting tutorials, and coming up with their own ways to revitalize and energize the Workshop. Our three new Sages are @Xaleph, @pixelseph, and @paradiddlesjosh!
We're glad to have some fresh faces on staff, and I'm personally looking forward to seeing what these folks have in store for us.
-- DarkeSword

Strong tracks from both teams! Love to hear it, just like from GSM 1 :D
I find it interesting that both teams’ tracks are about the same length for each mash up as well. Twenty minutes of good listening altogether ❤️

This song when I first heard them working on it had me in tears.  I'm so glad to see this on the front page.  What an excellent composition and vocals!

i have my own panel to set up for at 2:30 so I'll only be able to say hi very briefly before AND/OR after the panel

I'll be driving down on Friday morning just for the OCR panel. I'll probably stick around for lunch or something after, maybe hit up Nando's, and then I've gotta drive back up to NJ. Best bet if you wanna see me is to hit up the panel.

yo I'll be there. Also will have my Discord open. trying to nail down a schedule but MAG is chaos.

Dug this ancient account out of its grave because this whole album is awesome and I had to comment. Was visiting the site on a whim and was blown away to see this announcement on the front page! Loving it so far and will update this post with some more thoughts once I finish giving it a good listening.
Edit: Wow, been through the album several times now and I love it! I think this album does a fine job of sticking to the source while also spilling out in a lot of different genres. I've been listening to this as I WFH and every time the full album plays out for the two and a half hours, no skipping tracks.
Going in order, some of my favorites:
Within the Stars - I can't lie, nostalgia and track preference is going to play heavily into this review and my love of "The Elemental Stars" goes all the way back to @EgM's "Sol Sanctum Guitar" released back in 2005 which I still listen to on repeat on occasion. I really like Sam Dillard's take on it, with the orchestra sound alternating between intensity and the more quiet moments with the occasional vocal bits to give it that extra "sacred and ancient" feel. Angarian Vigil - Listening to the original soundtrack version of "Hopelessness" it was one of those tracks that really stuck with me as it comes up in some dramatic points in the game, but listening to it years later it always sounded rough on the GBA's hardware. This is such a great transformation of it and I love the way the guitar and trumpet? harmonize. Winter Winds - When I first heard this, given the smooth intro with a slight electronic tinge I was almost certain it was going to go into "electronic Icy Schala house mix" but was pleasantly surprised by the flute? (not that I have anything against frosty Schala techno remixes). Love the mood of this track, the flute overlaid on a droney ambient background conjures up the perfect image of the snowy village of Imil. Some night this Winter when we've got a full moon and freshly falling snow, this track is going on repeat while I sip some tea by the window. I'm Golden, Son! - Love the daring and upbeat sound of this. At times I feel I'm headed towards some kind of spy/James Bond intro or something kind of funky, and then you hit 1:05 and it starts getting wistful like our heros are down... but not for long! before it pumps you back up! Streets of Tolbi - Bold and cheery, I feel like I'm listening to a brass band heading down Main street. Has brought a smile to my face each time it comes on, and is usually my cue to get up from the desk and strut around the apartment. Dance of the Anemos - Grooving retro-synthy take on the Jupiter Lighthouse track, I didn't know I needed this. Heart of Stone - The mood in this one is so good, or maybe I'm just a sucker for airy vocal tracks. I get a major Shadow of the Colossus vibe from this. What I Want to Say - K-Pop isn't something I listen to very often, but I do have a few select tracks that I've always had as a guilty pleasure. This definitely gets added right in there with them, great way to end the album! I'd be really interested to see what someone could do with the Crossbone Isle track, was always one of my favorites, or maybe I just spent a lot of time in there.

Never gave this one the time of day, for some reason, which is weird in retrospect since I like Alex Kidd AND Shinobi...

Well it's been about a week or two, so as the new guy in charge, I figure I ought to say something, right?
When djpretzel started the process of handing over the keys to the family car, I have to admit I was pretty overwhelmed. OCR is one of the oldest and most rock-solid sites on the internet; I've often said that we're older than YouTube, older than smartphones, and older than a lot of things on the internet that, by virtue of their ubiquity, feel like institutions. OCR is an institution. There's a lot of weight in those keys.
So what am I going to do with OCR now that I'm in the driver's seat? In the short term: keep driving. Our main goal is going to be continuity; that is to say, keep posting ReMixes on a regular basis. We've got a pretty big backlog of ReMixes that are ready for the spotlight, and our excellent and talented community continues to send us new music all the time, so we're not worried about running out. But there sure is a lot of behind-the-scenes process involved with getting these tracks in your ears, so bear with us while the staff--with djpretzel's help--figures all of this out.
I still believe that there's a case to be made for the curation model that we've developed and adhered to for 20+ years, so we're still going to have a Judges Panel that's going to evaluate submissions, and the bar for quality that the judges look for isn't shifting in any direction.
One of our goals in this changeover is to decentralize a lot of process off of one person. djpretzel did a lot on his own, and as we look at some things behind-the-scenes, maybe he didn't have to. I want OCR to be a place that can be run by a trusted group of people without a single point-of-failure. Case-in-point: literally one week after I take on leadership at OCR, my 8-month-old son brings home COVID from somewhere and gets the whole house sick, and we're having OCR staff meetings and figuring out how to post ReMixes while I'm coughing up a lung. Unbelievable. So I'm also hoping to bring more people onto the OCR staff. I've already pulled in some folks from the community, and we're going to figure out how to provide avenues for more people to help out if they're interested. Keep an eye out.
Beyond that though, I've got a couple of ideas for improvements and features that have been brewing for a while that I'm going to start to pursue, leveraging some existing tech we already have and also exploring some new tech. For those that are unaware, my day job is working as a web and application developer at a major university. It's something I've been doing for 15 years and I have a pretty solid handle on building database-driven web applications. I'm going to bring a little of that experience to OCR, and hopefully we can eventually have some cool toys and tools in place to help move the site forward. Some things to look forward to:
I've already put together a Currently in the Judging Process dashboard for ReMixers and hopefuls to keep an eye on. It's a live view of the judging process without having to wait for a Judge to update a forum thread. We're actively developing and testing a proper Submission form for ReMixers and hopefuls to use when sending us music. We've been asking you to send us an email for far too long. That's going to change. We've put together a "stream team" to evaluate how we can do more with our YouTube channel and even get things going on Twitch in some capacity. There are a lot more things we're talking about internally as well, but I don't want to over-promise anything right now.
If you have ideas for OCR, feel free to share them in our Site Issues & Feedback forum. I'd also love for folks to come by and join our OC ReMix Discord server. I know the forums have been pretty sleepy for a few years now, but the chat server is lively and active. Hope to see you there.

I tried to keep this brief, but as you might know, that's not my forte.
FIRST, the facts...
On October 28th I informed staff that I was stepping down from my role as president/admin/owner/etc. of OverClocked ReMix, and on November 1st I also stepped down from the board of Game Music Initiative, the 501c3 non-profit organization that funds OCR. In short, I no longer feel I have the bandwidth to do these roles justice and to not only maintain, but advance, the missions of both projects. I will be working with Shariq Ansari (DarkeSword) to transition my responsibilities and ensure continuity of operations. The (excellent!) mix posted on Halloween was published without my direct involvement, subsequent posts up to the milestone #OCR04500 have been superbly executed, and I am confident that staff will continue the work necessary to operate - and evolve - OCR in my absence. I will be even less available than I have been, lately, so I apologize in advance for any lack of responsiveness.
THEN, the feels...
Where to even begin?
It's hard to encapsulate over two decades of history; omissions are inevitable. What began as a neat side project I started in my parents' basement in 1999 snowballed into something far beyond my wildest expectations, due to the blood, sweat, tears, and unbridled, rampant creativity that thousands of you have contributed. Much of this happened before social media was even a thing and before the platforms/services we now heavily associate with the modern internet had come into being; it was a frontier, and we were on it, and we took it pretty seriously because we knew how amazing VGM is, how creative arrangements could effectively convey and explore that vast musical landscape, and how a small fandom communicating via email, IRC, & forums could collaborate to build mighty, new things. We took it seriously, often too seriously, but we ALSO played more than a few rounds of Shaq-Fu at conventions, made some truly ridiculous (but always musical!) joke mixes, and developed internal circles of lore with our own memes & jargon.
NOT in strictly chronological order: there was some drama with now-legendary composer Jake Kaufman; VGMix entered the fray; we added a judges panel so it wasn't just me making stuff up; we released our first community album; the unmoderated forum birthed its own sort of... subculture; the site itself evolved to be database-driven and not just two giant dropdowns sorted by game/date; we posted mixes submitted by composers George "The Fat Man" Sanger and Jeremy Soule; we met/interviewed Hiroki Kikuta and Nobuo Uematsu; our album trailers by the incomparable José the Bronx Rican started blowing minds; we started appearing in person at Otakon, PAX, MAG, others - much love to all for having us; we bumped into Leeroy Jenkins at ROFLcon and gave him a hoodie; we started hosting from our own server and managing the technical side of things ourselves; thanks to Mr. Shael Riley (among others!), we got to remix the music for an actual Street Fighter game (!!); we released fifteen more albums...
...and then we turned ten, on December 11th of 2009.
Quite a first decade, and I missed hundreds of things I shouldn't have. Hundreds of firsts, some tragic lasts, and millions of memories that can't quite be conjured by words.
In 2011, we stood up for Fair Use at World’s Fair Use Day, an event organized by the non-profit Public Knowledge.
In 2012, we launched our kickstarter for Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin, it was taken down, we talked with Square lawyers directly for a couple hours and made the non-profit project structure clear & contractual, and we relaunched a successful kickstarter. That's not always how those things go!
We launched Game Music Initiative in 2016, creating an official 501c3 charity to formalize the finances around OCR and potentially support other VGM-related projects, too. On a related note, I’ve absolutely loved seeing OC ReMixes featured by charity speedrunners Games Done Quick (GDQ) - it’s exactly the type of thing I always wanted to see, that synergy.
Things do start getting a little quieter from then on out, and I think there are a ton of reasons for that, but it has been an incredible and improbable journey that I wouldn't have missed for the world. Thank you ALL for making it possible; OCR was always yours, I aspired only to stewardship of something I wanted to exist for everyone.
FINALLY, the future…
It's time - some would say past time - for OverClocked ReMix itself to be ReMixed.
That's the point, right?
Infinite permutation; endless possibility.
You don't always know the day, month, or even year when your influence on something starts holding it back, or when the waning amount of time and energy you can dedicate becomes a liability. That type of certainty is often elusive; it can be a difficult diagnosis to even contemplate, and you need to look for & listen to signs. In addition to just being too much of a single point of failure for OCR (sorry, engineering mindset), the last year I've been asking myself whether it was time to let go, and I think the answer is sometimes in the asking. I have been stretched thin, like butter scraped over too much bread, and that's when you leave the Shire.
Beyond representing what I genuinely believe is best for the future of OCR, I absolutely confess a personal wish to redirect reclaimed time & energy to my family and my own music. Being a husband to my wife Anna and being a father to our daughters Esther and Sarah is my meaning; I have always put them first, but now I can put them even MORE first. Esther just started learning trombone, so in a few years, expect a collab! Sarah is building her confidence learning piano & makes me proud every day. I want to write new music for them, and with them, and that requires more time than I've had.
I believe the principles that have driven us - embracing all games & all styles of music, emphasizing interpretation & creativity, offering both curation and critique, and providing a non-commercial platform for those who seek it - are truly timeless, but there are many ways to honor them.
I look to the new leadership/staff to galvanize, streamline, diversify, and re-imagine, within that immense space.
I'll be leaving them with some ideas of my own; please let them know yours. I ask the community to support them, embrace change, provide guidance, and be patient; I believe it will be worth it!
Thanks,
- djpretzel
 

Hi @Bundeslang.  First, I want to sincerely thank you for keeping PRC going for as long as you did.  PRC was a huge part of my development as an artist in the early days of OCR along other older competitions like IMC and I made a lot of collabs and friends in these competitions.  I am no longer making music, nor I am around online much but when I saw the email about this PRC being the last I had to jump in to salute and thank you and the oher artists.
I would say the absolute best part of being part of the community by far were PRC and other compos.  The constraints of the competitions I felt really helped me break out of some walls, and some of the remixes I made here both as sir_nuts and as showroom dummy made the jump to the front page.
Again thank you and all of those who participated over the years.  Hope you are doing great and wish you nothing but the absolute best in the future.

team metroid

Welcome back to Game Set Mash!!, a team-based, long-form competition format for the OC ReMix community!
Current Status
Game Set Mash!! 2 has come to a close with Team Metroid coming out on top! Congratulations to everyone who participated!
Scores
| Metroid | Caslevania | Round 1 | 6(sub) 6(won) | 6(sub) 0(won) | Round 2 | 6(sub) 4(won) | 6(sub) 2(won) | Round 3 | 6(sub) 3(won) | 6(sub) 3(won) | --------+---------------+---------------+ Total | 31 | 23 | How does the competition work?
Participating remixers will form 2 teams of at least 3 members each. Each team will be assigned a set of 3 games. The competition lasts 6-7 weeks, with 10-day mixing rounds alternating with 4-day voting periods. At the start of the mixing round, each team will choose and reveal 1 source tune from each of their 3 games. Each source will be paired with another source from the opposing team, for a total of 3 pairs. Each team will be responsible for writing 3 remixes for the week that combine (or mash) both source tunes in each pair. At the end of the mixing round, we'll upload the remixes and have a community vote. Voters will vote on the 3 remixes that did the best job of mashing the two source tunes together. Teams will accumulate a score based on how many of the community votes they win. In the next mixing round, we'll rotate which games get paired up with opposing games. What are the rules about teams?
I want to make things easy and accessible for people to participate, so there's no maximum on team size, but I will be asking people to do their best to even out the teams once we have all of our participants signed up. Unlike previous competitions I've run, there's no rules about who has to be a primary arranger for a track from week to week. Teams will be free to organize and determine how each of the three remixes gets covered. Using your teammates for collaboration and feedback is highly encouraged.
What are the games we're remixing?
The Metroid games are: Super Metroid, Metroid Fusion, and Metroid Prime. The Castlevania games are: Castlevania III: Dracula's Curse, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, and Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow. This seems like it'll take a long time, when does it start?
I'm aiming to gather interest here on the forums and in our Discord and I'd like to start in November, depending on if we can get some sizable teams. I would love to have around 6-7 people on each team to really get the spirit of collaboration going. I understand that the holiday season gets busy, so depending on interest levels, we could delay until January, but I'd love to get things rolling earlier.

Metroid o7

team metroid

Dammit, fine. I’m in for Team Metroid 

team metroid

I started the arrangement with a jazz fusion style on my mind, but prog rock started winning as I added more sections.
 
I’ll take a look at the piano tone the judges mentioned. I’m using NI’s “The Giant” which has a variety of possible sounds, but I’m intentionally tweaking it for an aggressive and bright sound. I probably overdid it haha.

Loving the latino rep ?

There are parts to this that feel more like jazz fusion, then parts that definitely hit like progressive rock - interesting blend, and Ron Burgundy would love the flute!!

Best sounding mix (in terms of balance and production) from Lucas to date.
I'm here for the awesome organ work.  Blues structure helps keep this one from going off the rails because it's wild and very fun.  Great work!

Gotta agree here, this really feels like a level-up for Lucas in terms of mixing and production quality. I always expect the arrangements to be ambitious and creative, which this delivers on, but the mixing is super tight and definitely sets a new bar for your work! Super good stuff all around.

Nice to see my old rival on the front page

INSANE guitar AND organ solos on this one; really delivers the goods!

I still remember hearing this in Free Month and going "this is absolutely nuts" Hats off to TheManPF for reigning this one in! (and one hell of collaborators haha)