AxLR

so, shout out to Hemo and HoboKa letting me know on two separate occasions during MAGFest (sorry, the internet was bad!) that my silly little city pop romp won this round of PRC. thank y'all so much for the love! it was my first time attempting the genre for a track from a silly game that meant so much to me. i'm sending all of my love to you, suspended on silver wings! you all did such amazing tracks.
i've been thinking about my winner's pick for quite a bit. while it was tempting to suggest another city pop-leaning piece (lookin' at you, hazure02!) i wanted something sentimental, something to spark inspiration while we're all feeling sentimental.
my source pick is "the afternoon streets" from kingdom hearts, by Yoko Shimomura.
midi download link (VGMusic): https://www.vgmusic.com/file/12681e383f82817929690513b1ea8f39.html
hope to see you all around! keep making bangers!

Hall Of Fame:
PRC Winners: 472 Editions
TheVideoGamer (30 wins)
OneUp (24 wins)
PlanarianHugger, Rexy, S|r Nuts (17 wins)
Hoboka (15 wins)
Evktalo, Sggod89, The Orichalcon (11 wins)
Showroom Dummy, Supercoolmike (10 wins)
Bundeslang, Esperado (9 wins)
Bladiator, DJ Mokram, Hylian Lemon, WassupThunder (8 wins)
Dex, Gercr, Ichitootah, Souperion, Trism (7 wins)
Chickenwarlord, , V___ (6 wins)
APZX, FreakyT, GCJ, Hleet, NinjaPenguinDan, Setokaibracket (Hartbeat Acolyte) (5 wins)
Alex Smith, Binweasel, Chalis, Emperor, Just64helpin, Nutritious, Opk, RoeTaKa (4 wins)
Analoq, ArseAssassin, AxLR, Beckett007, Blak Omen, Cash, Dewey Newt, DrumJ8, Hemophiliac, JerryTerry, Jorito, Prophecy, TheoConfidor, Xsquader, Yami (3 wins)
Amphibious, Andy Jayne, Chavous, DJ Siamey, Dudley Ghost, DZ Composer, DzejPi, Flurry of Flames, HarlemHeat360, Jeremy Robson, JH Sounds, Joystick, Kat, Less Ashamed of Selfs, Marcusg, MindWanderer, Mythril Nazgul, NintenJoe64, Starphoenix, Studionimbus.org, SubNormal J3, Theory of Nonexistence, TheVodouQueen, Thu, Toilet Goat, Txai, YorkshireLakeside, Zerothemaster (2 wins)
0x25ec, Alfredofreak, Aluminum, Ambient, Anachromium, Anorax, Another Soundscap, Arcana, Aurelien Castel, Blakeingram, Blueenvy, Coloradoweeks Darkbrandflake11, DarkeSword, DimWiddy, Ding888Ding, Diotrans, Divinewrath, Dragonlord, Elsalluz, FiremanJoe, Flexstyle, Fxsnowy, Gario, Garpocalypse, General Slicer, Ghetto Lee Lewis, GrapplingHook, Grauw, Hetcenus, Hexen, Hollow, Inrade, Ivan Hakstock, JoxaDaii, Kapden, Kholdstare, Klevarkoopa, Lidawg, Majeliss, Mark Sparling, Moseph, MushroomSword, n0mad, Nasenmann, Necrox, NormallyRetro, Obtuse, Ophanin, OverCoat, Overkillius, Popoi, PriZm, Sadorf, Scott Peeples, Shido, Strike911, Tensei-San, Thomas Neil, Trenthian, Unknown Pseudoartist, Villainelle, YoshiBlade, Zackparrish, Zorrakh (1 win)

@TheVideoGamer Yes, Annals of Neon was the remix I did specfically for this round. And yeah there are a few notes that are out, but it is entirely intentional. As I said in the summary I did a lot of subtle things with voicing changes throughout and I really wanted to put in some melancholic undertones to this and I felt that some slightly off kilter notes actually helped. I tried really hard to get a balance from the beginning, but I just couldn't get a good blend with the piano at the end so I ended up mixing this track back to front as it were. The middle section and I know a few others pointed it out, and @The Vodoú Queen mentioned it too so here is a more indepth summary plus some of the technical notes.
The idea I was trying to invoke here was sort of an introspective portion. I tried to imagine going back into some of the earliest and highly cherished memories would sort of sound like. That section is what I came up with. Partially inspired by the scene in Contact where the protagonist finds themselves on a dreamy beach. The crashing waves set much of the background ambiance. Like how memories don't often come back all at once, but in flashes or excuse the pun, waves. So, that is just a sample from somewhere on the coast of the Atlantic ocean. Then I put two layers of kids playing at playgrounds mixed reasonably low level to try and place into frame that is section is about youth. And I just happened upon an excellent field recording of fairgrounds, and I just sort of used it for some more cacophony and highlighting. There are also only two synths here. A nice soft pad, if memory serves it is just Sylenth1's Meditation with an absurd amount of reverb. Then there is just an arp again bathed in reverb, something from a DX7, it might just be bells or such (I don't 100% remember).
The transition to the entire section was done simply by decreasing the send level of the tracks to their respective buses, but then increasing the send level to the reverb & delay. For example the pre-delay on the reverb becomes very noticeable. The notion was to make it seem like one was slipping into their memories and the thunderclap was there really just for something to sort of mask the transition and be something to listen to other than hearing the sounds sort of fade into the abyss. The entire section is then mixed primarily into the reverb and then controlling the amount of dry send that goes into their buses. That is what gives it that feeling of distance and space. Coming out I used a simple sine lead, again drenched in reverb to blend it and pair that up with bringing in the regular piano using velocity. Really the inspiration for coming out of it is Jean MIchel Jarre's Ethnicolor. Glad folks enjoyed it! It was a ton of fun to work on and really pushed me into trying to communicate the vibe and thoughts I was going for here.
Also, TVG Departing for the Unknown is pressed really hard up against a limiter. Unfortunately, this didn't make it past panel. Something about the ending and how it felt aimless despite that fact that was exactly what I was going for 🤷‍♂️. Anyway, the original is in 3/4, but I tried to place it into 4/4 by doing some extension work. Not perhaps the best translation, but the sort of sloppiness of it is why I called it what it was. The off kilter nature really fed into the idea of about going off into an adventure sure and ready, but not being certain where or what that'd entail.
Okay, enough about that stuff. AWESOME STUFF!!! And lets all give @Bundeslang a round of applause for running this compo for so long and really without much or any fanfare.
👏
Thank you Bundeslang for your digligence over the life of this compo. It will be missed.

I'm sorry I was so busy these last times that I couldn't have time to submit my vote.

Y'all made such great entries. It was nice to compete with you guys for one last time.

Good luck !
 

I'm sorry I was so busy these last times that I couldn't have time to submit my vote.

Y'all made such great entries. It was nice to compete with you guys for one last time.

Good luck !
 

I just put mine through... xD
...4.5 hrs consumed in listening to everyone's stuff and giving some substantial review to each... D:
HOWEVER--all of them were WELL worth the listen. :) ♥

We don't have that much votes, so I give another week to vote. New and final voting deadline January 17th.

I'm sorry I was so busy these last times that I couldn't have time to submit my vote.

Y'all made such great entries. It was nice to compete with you guys for one last time.

Good luck !
 

I'm sorry I was so busy these last times that I couldn't have time to submit my vote.

Y'all made such great entries. It was nice to compete with you guys for one last time.

Good luck !
 

Welcome to the voting stage
The mixing stage is over. This round has 24 songs.
 
To vote, do the following:
Visit https://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC472 and listen to all the entries
Scroll to the form at the bottom of the screen or click PM.
Fill in the entries from first to third in the ThaSauce form or fill in your top 3.
State a reasoning for it.
Participants are encouraged to vote and leave feedback. They get a 3 point bonus, but they are not allowed to vote for their own track.
Always look in this thread to find out who's the winner of the round after the voting stage instead of only looking at ThaSauce for the results.
You have until Wednesday January 17th 2024 10:59 AM ThaSauce time (11:00 UTC, 12:00 GMT) to vote. One week extra to vote, this will be the final deadline.
 
If you vote by PM make sure that your top 3 is clear. I prefer something like this:
(To)
(Subject)
PRC 472 Vote
(Message):
1: (remixer A )
2: (remixer B )
3: (remixer C )
(reasoning)

Same, you can find mine in the thread.

Voting already? It feels like time passes too quickly.

Btw some of us added a second entry but it seems that they weren't added.

G'd luck to y'all !

Uploaded the second songs by AlchemicJay, AxLR (BRKPNT) and Jorito.
Voting will start tomorrow and end at January 10th 2024.

Voting already? It feels like time passes too quickly.

Btw some of us added a second entry but it seems that they weren't added.

G'd luck to y'all !

Having trouble as well.

Here's my second entry, an upcoming remix of my first release with the alias "BRKPNT".
Many people know me for my entries in this contest, I thought that I'd show you what I worked on outside of OCR.
This is going to be released for the Anniversary edition of my first EP. Enjoy ! (That would also be my very last release ever)

Title : "Forgot My Phone on the Clouds (VIP)"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/163Kv7hUVcD6DWTAn0cH01gP9UdDZEVEU/view?usp=sharing

Its been hard writing with me not doing it for years, but i will have something for ya in the next couple days

One week left.

finally finished my entry. looking forward to hearing everyone's remixes!

Done working on mine. Cheers to everyone already done, and keep at it those of you want to finish.

Having trouble as well.

Here's my second entry, an upcoming remix of my first release with the alias "BRKPNT".
Many people know me for my entries in this contest, I thought that I'd show you what I worked on outside of OCR.
This is going to be released for the Anniversary edition of my first EP. Enjoy ! (That would also be my very last release ever)

Title : "Forgot My Phone on the Clouds (VIP)"

https://drive.google.com/file/d/163Kv7hUVcD6DWTAn0cH01gP9UdDZEVEU/view?usp=sharing

As a father of 4 wonderful kids, I relate a lot with that last part. Being able to share this passion with them and to see them thrive through that, You might be the proudest man on earth writing those lines, eh?
Even though I just came by pure curiosity and was just wandering around bit by bit, I can see and feel how much work has been put into this and I feel the need to tell you how impressive it was just to discover it.

Godspeed. Thanks for all of this.

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
 

The People's Remix Competition Final Round (PRC472)
PRCv20-13

Hello everyone and Welcome to the People's Remix Competition!
 
This round is located at:
https://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC472
 
Source: Free Round (Every source is allowed, including making originals)
This will be the last round of PRC. Since it's getting harder to get any songs in and I also lack time myself to be very active in it I decided to put it to an end. I don't feel anything for changing the setup of the contest or promoting it more. I'm happy that I kept it running this long. Many rounds got a good amount of songs and a voting stage but the last years it was hard to get any contributions. Still, PRC469 was the first round without an entry. I don't want this going with much rounds without entries, after 20 years it is good to end this contest. It's been a long time since I took over PRC from Rexy (after PRC130 back in October 2008, 15 years ago). The contest itself started back in late 2003. I want to thank everyone for this long, long time.
If someone really not wants to end PRC and wants to take over the organisation of PRC he/she is free to start season 21 next year. Send me a PM if you want this to happen.
 
Of course, PRC will not before there's a Final Round.
It's a Free Round. Feel free to remix whatever you like, also making an original mix is allowed. You can also submit multiple songs.
The remixing stage is the longest ever in the PRC history, over two months of time to make a good remix.
 
The deadline is Tuesday December 26th 2023 at 10:59 am ThaSauce time (18:00 UTC, 19:00 GMT), check the link https://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC472 for the exact time left. Make sure that the song is uploaded to ThaSauce or that there’s a download link posted in this thread. This is the longest remixing stage ever in PRC.
You may enter as many mixes as you like and work with as many people as you like on each mix. You are free to create a second ThaSauce account for that if you use ThaSauce, it's needed to be able to upload a second remix if you use ThaSauce. Of course you can also upload it somewhere else and put a download link in this thread.
Do not make qualitative comments on an entry until the results of the vote have been posted in this thread.
Mixers cannot vote for themselves but if they vote they receive a free first place vote added onto their score.
The winner of this round will be the last winner of a PRC round. No next round will happen so there's no need to pick a source for next round.
 
You can find the full rules list at this page as well.
 
GOOD LUCK!
 
PRC Home Page
 

Thanks everyone for their input in this topic. It's very much appreciated, also good to see some of the participants in early PRC rounds still being around here and checking it out.
I'm pretty sure I made the right decision to make this a final last round of the competition. And of course I will enter myself as well, but (as always) don't expect a remix which will pass the OC Remix judges without a NO vote. Good to see that the first song is already there.
 

(EDIT...I hit enter too soon LOL)
Sounds fair. Sucks it has to be this way, but the compo scene was definitely in a downturn since probably as far back as 2014, though there were some definite upticks here and there. I'll defer to your decision with MnP, TVG.
As for PRC, it has been a wild ride and some seriously good times and kick-ass remixes. Thanks for being such an awesome host @Bundeslang
(EDIT 2) I'd like to add that you were very patient with the more difficult participants (myself included, at times). You've shown nothing but class and aimed to keep the experience a positive one, despite the BS that came your way from time to time lol. You are a true gentleman and scholar Bundeslang. Pardon the 2nd edit, I am having a hard time gathering my thoughts and overcoming my anxiety all at once lol.
I was planning on just coasting along and doing nothing for the rest of the year, but that will have to change, considering the situation... I'd be remiss not to add an entry. Hopefully Bundeslang will be joining in for the fun too!