Jorito

In essence that's what it is. I've done a ton of work with these kinds of Social Media platforms, and conceptually have a pretty good idea of how one should do this. In general it means following the accounts (or particularly for Facebook the Page, for Twitter the account, and for Youtube the channel due to the way these APIs work) find the correct OCReMix post(s) you're looking for, get the comments (potentially with some extra API requests) and store them somewhere. With some glue, rate limit handling, oauth access tokens and (if needed) some kind of strategy to backfill this data for older remixes I think you're good.
 
I could even build it, but the last programming language I touched is Node.js; haven't touched PHP in years. But I'm happy to advice and assist if somebody is up for it.

Definitely looking forward to it! Apart from being my OCR album debut, it's also gonna be my listening party debut

Alright, in less than 24 hours, the Vampire Variations Trilogy will be over! I can't wait for everyone to discover the epic music the artists created for you, and the neat artwork from Andrew Warwick. It's truly the best VV album in my opinion, with a strong theme that all artists followed. You can really feel the adventure while listening to the album.
 
I can't realize what we accomplished during those 5+ years. Dracula never rests but I think I'm done with Castlevania albums for a while. Thanks to everyone who participated, helped, and made it possible. I'm far from good with long speeches, so get ready for da bomb tomorrow.

So it looks like this is the wrap-up of the wrap-up. So as this was my first Remix Gauntlet and I just want to reiterate how much fun it was working within a time frame! My only grip is also my favorite aspect of the RG. On the one hand It seems there is a natural pairing of skill level and ability and the heavy hitters pair up together and tend to dominate, while the newer or less versatile remixers, who are still finding their voice, tend to pair up and have a more difficult time standing on two feet, especially when everyone is on their best game. On the other hand I, love toeing it with the Titans of OCR, stand and deliver, firing line....eighth level Mario Bros. !!!! I realize that these compose were around long before me, but If there is a suggestion box somewhere I'd ask if there was a way to have independent floating champions that kind of rotate from one team to another offering helping to those who need it or just adding that little extra zest to those who are more confident, allowing the more nascent remixers to glean some wisdom from the pros. Or maybe randomized teams? IDK, I still had ​a lot fun and am surprised at what I was able to concoct in realtime. As for an Album project, if there were any of my tracks that piqued any ears, let me know and I'll have another look at them and tinker and toy. 
 
PS Are there any plans for another Remix Gauntlet, if so I can certainly give a preemptive "Yes" to any sign-ups

I also want to thank everyone for participating, and—more importantly—I want to thank everyone for making this a drama-free compo. Usually there's at least one instance of someone being a total poop, whining about how people are voting or complaining about other teams'/artists' music. This time around, we had none of that. Everyone was a good sport and supportive of each other. I'm glad that people had fun and were able to learn things and grow as artists.
 
Also, just to reiterate something I said a few weeks ago: if you're planning on submitting tracks you made for the SFRG to OCR, please include a source breakdown for the judges' benefit.
 
I'd also like to suggest someone (not me) maybe organize an album project using select tracks from this competition. There's a lot of insanely good music that came out of the SFRG, and I think that a pretty good package could be put together and dropped as a proper album (as opposed to the standard archival release I put out of compos). Give artists maybe a week or two to make any necessary revisions, gather updated and remastered WAVs, etc. I can put together some album art too, and we can drop this as an OCRI release.

Bored, had time; thread so far, summarized:
 
Problems/causes/observations:
  Will: you wait for about a year, and get a writeup from DJP and about 2 comments on the site.   BS: William Harby, who has not reviewed a mix in months.    ACO: OCR seems super dead in general compared to when I first came here a few years back.    ACO: I notice even in the workshop, it's not uncommon now for mixes to get over a hundred views but absolutely no response.   timaeus222: Maybe it's the idea that the 'classic' ReMixers are in high demand for moar moar moar STUFF, and people want stuff from Sixto, zircon, etc.   timaeus222: Maybe with the newer ReMixers coming in, people don't know what to expect because the person's brand new or rather new.   timaeus: Maybe it's because there have been ReMixes from "new" games that people aren't as familiar with, like Guild Wars 2, Beyond: Two Souls, and Fittest.   timaeus: Maybe people are more busy these days; I know I'm really busy these days.   Will: Seems like "classic" ReMixers are not exempt from lack of reviews so I doubt thats it.   Will:  I also doubt its due to games, since again, popular games are not exempt either.    Will: Lack of new members?   Garpocalypse: A significant part of OCR is the nostalgia factor. [...]  But the nostalgia wears off quickly when you have to live it everyday.  Psychologists call the decrease in response to a stimuli over time "habituation"   ACO: Lots of the newer games don't have music that is as simple and melodic as the older ones, so it's tough to remix or when remixes of it pop up on the site   timaeus222:  it looks to me like there's a lack of new members. [...] statistically, less people are joining the OCR forums per year, at least since 2010. :/   pu_freak:  I have much less time than a few years ago. When I look at the active people at the forums [...], I have a feeling that the average age is higher than when I first joined these forums   pu_freak: YouTube and Facebook. [...] I listen to the ones from there. That means I never visit the OCR homepage anymore   BS: it might be hard for a site that takes 6 months to a year for judgements to maintain an active member base.   BS: it's time that we get replaced with the new generation of remixers, but it's harder than ever for them to actually be a part of OCR   Patrick Burns: I think there are a lot more avenues to find and share nostalgia these days   Patrick Burns: our arrangements don't add nearly as much in the post-redbook audio era. [...] Appreciating arrangements of already well-produced material requires a listener who's much more fixated on the music than the average listener, imo.   Patrick Burns: We've just got so many other options to fulfill our music/digital/social/creative needs these days.   SystemsReady: Holy shit, it takes 6 months to a year for remixes to be judged now? [...] that does make me FAR less inclined to submit anything.   djp: I sense some defeatism, here, and I can see where it might stem from, but this is when we need people stepping up, not stepping back   Skryp: why are the number of reviews relevant?  Or even why are reviews themselves relevant?   Skryp: The forums themselves have gotten very slow, very boring, very dead and dying, and so the question should be "How do you suggest bring the overall forum activity back up again?".   Skryp: I don't think asking or having one person try and lead a march in improving reviews will have any long lasting effects around here.   k-wix: Don't have as many personal connections as i used to on the site.   k-wix: If you make it onto the site, the mix is probably awesome and worth listening to, so I don't feel like feedback is needed at that point.    Bowlerhat: it's actually really important to see as much reviews as possible to your remix [...] because it can be really motivational to see people like your music.   Garpocalypse: the environment where students and working professionals were nearly reduced to tears [...] I was initially attracted to OCR because it got me away from that into a more stress free environment.  Now, with all of this music out there, it's no longer a similar minded group of people who care enough about their art to want to help each other [...] and instead it's a lot of people who all want praise for their work [...] people should be encouraged more to speak their minds on the forums here as long as it has a constructive purpose to make the remix better.   Garpocalypse: The length of time it takes for a person to get judged and posted is an issue    Garpocalypse: I jumped if someone I knew such as Brandon Strader, Willrock, Darkesword, Avaris, Gario or other posted remixers whose work I enjoyed took time to comment on mine. Even if the comments were harsh they were much easier to take because I was familiar with who they were beyond their name just showing up in the forums.  Now we are at a time when most of the remixers from earlier days of OCR have all moved on   Garpocalypse: the panel is separating itself too much from the community it once created and it's having detrimental effects.    BS: I could comment more in workshop, [...] people usually reply and/or PM you with new versions always asking more more more   The Damned: sarcasm   Rozo: Back when I was active here, there were more of the big names around. When they posted, [...] it inspired us.   Rozo: I've had less energy for the wip board, and now just do my duties as a workshop mod, and not much else there.    Rozo: I think the wip board's current slow pace is because it's become less of a community. There's not the wip crew of the old days. [...] Everyone has their own circles now, whether Facebook or YouTube or SoundCloud or something else, so the comments are spread all over the place   Rozo:  I think the ability to drop a brief "nice work" comment on Facebook gives people a reason to not bother giving something more in-depth   Rozo: Now that I'm staff, I feel I have to get permission to do stuff, so that dampens my initiative. Not maybe for reviews or posting on the wip board, but for doing more overall.   zircon: a big part of it is the rise of social media and YouTube. Forums - in general - are way less popular than they used to be.   zircon: What has also changed is how people listen to music. There's been a dramatic shift away from downloading MP3s and having a music library, to just streaming your music.   Best Dude55: I don't feel I have enough experience to where I could give any helpful constructive feedback.   Best Dude55: Also as a new member I can agree with others that the time it takes for submissions to reach the panel also kind of deters me from being more active.    Jorito: I grew up with 8 bit home computers and a PSX, and that means a lot of the newer games don't mean anything to me. That also means I typically won't review and comment.   Jorito: I don't really care about the number of reviews (of my own tracks). I'd to like to see a more active community here, but I'm not convinced focusing on the number of reviews is the way to get there.   CelestialSonata: Looking at everyone's post count is like looking at an XP bar.  It's hard to tell myself that my critique or advice will be worth anything compared to someone whose posts are in the thousands (high XP).  In my mind, how can I give advice if I don't have any arrangements published?   --   Suggestions:   pu_freak: copy the write-up to YouTube as the first comment?   djp: We upgrade our forums to IPS 4.X   djp: We build the workshop out to integrate with the rest of the site   djp:  We thus allow content creation & promotion on two tracks - the instant gratification, "look what I made" track for anything posted on the workshop AND the featured, canonized track for accepted mixes   djp: We automate the submissions process via the forums   djp: All of these changes serve to reinforce the forums and the benefits of registering & participating   djp: We consider some form of trackable reputation points or awards or whatever for the most active/helpful members    djp: every review helps!   Will: All it takes is one person to start doing some reviews and it might kick things up a gear.    k-wix: When the song gets posted, it could be posted with all of the information that the judges talked about, might spark some conversation and debate. Would be great to actively discuss the track WITH the judges.   k-wix: Featured Comments [...] Could have its own section on the main page to encourage people to actively comment and get featured.   Bowlerhat:  I've never left a review myself [...] I think that after reading this topic I just might start doing it.   The Orichalcon: Is there a way to integrate comments on remixes posted to Youtube into the equivalent comment thread here? [...] Now the comments are split up amongst different media, thinning out the numbers.   Jorito: Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site.   Txai: I think the basic core of solving this is lifting listeners' tastes and opinions.    Txai:  I wonder if every poster could include their top 10 favourite ReMixes in their profile page. This was a feature in VGMix and OLR, too. And OLR turned into a barren ghost town after many user listening features were gone.   Rozo: We can encourage reviews. OA and DA had a reviews month back when, [...] maybe it'd create a feedback loop, where people can piggy-back on other people's reviews.   Rozo: Just start reviewing.   Rozo: I would also like to be able to read all comments an artist has received on their posted mixes.   Rozo: I'd also like to see the design of the forum posts get a trim so there's less whitespace, [...] That would make it feel more like a conversation than disparate posts.   Rozo: the no-favorites policy could be revised to allow for "here are my favorite collabs from the past 3 years, check them out, give them a review; what are your favorite collabs?"-type threads   Rozo: We could do a monthly podcast, talking about the remixes posted that month.   Rozo: We could make awesome music videos to get more YouTube presence and maybe draw people here.   Rozo: We could raise ocr's profile on reddit.   timaeus222: Another judge tryout to get more on the panel?   timaeus222: Tell your friends about OCR   Jorito: embracing all these platforms and combining them in stead of trying to force the audience (back) to the forums. The community is probably still there, just more scattered and, in today's society, also more fleeting.   evktalo: I wonder if reviews could be [...] not just posts count, but also review count, why not also "workshop comment" count.. [...] Not as much to reward people who do the reviews, but highlight the importance of the comments.   evktalo: I really like to read "readings" of pieces, what they say or seem to mean to a particular listener. You don't have to understand music in a technical/theory level to do this, which is nice (though you have to be able to write about what you think or feel)   evktalo: if you said something controversial perhaps, more people would hopefully join in on the discussion. It should only be a good thing, right?

Tallies are complete. Check the first post for results. Congratulations to everyone on a great competition. You guys can change your sigs back now. XD

Third spot ain't too bad, especially as the competition for it was so close. Wow! Thanks for running a cool compo, Shariq. I hope to work some more on all of the tracks I headed, not before long. It was so cool to team up with Jorito & Tuberz again!

Include the Facebook comments and Twitter replies too, in that case. Effectively you'd centralize the discussion on the site. Technically feasible because all these platforms have APIs, but if it's a desirable functionality is debatable.

Nice, I see by this point you're starting to make greater use of Juggernaut and Damage. For me the production was a bit too distant, but otherwise I liked the action-heavy style you brought for this. (Sidenote: there's a click at 2:46.) One thing I'd say is that you could pay closer attention to how much low end you do get from Damage and Juggernaut; that guitar section towards the end had some low end clutter from those two libraries.

Thank you for thanking the thanker!

TRAILER!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKBHKD4uwio

A listening party, cool! Never joined one, but I think I can make it!

I'm still humbled by Callum's enthusiasm for our track, and generally to all three guys who stepped up to help out with it. It wouldn't be on the album without these guys I'm sure!
 
YAYYYY LISTENING PARTY! Maybe, just maybe I'll be able to make it.. certainly hope so!

I'm currently discussing very exciting stuff with djp -- I can't for the album to come out!

We can only hope so
 
Never played the game myself, but I really liked working on the album. And hey, I got to remix Vampire Killer again, so my craving for nostalgia was definitely met

I think you might have missed a 2 in Timaeus's username. 
But yeah, I don't think I got to be as overtly weird as I wanted to be. Maybe next time. Having a busy university schedule sucks yo. 

\o/

SHARE!
 
https://www.facebook.com/ocremix/photos/a.204922058374.125659.7350358374/10153389249688375/?type=3&theater
 
https://twitter.com/ocremix/status/656899430659043328
 

Hey, congrats for all the work! I was following this project since many time ago, as well as visiting regularly this website and forums and some other VGM-related sites "in lurker mode".
But just wanted to exit from the shadows and say "hello" in this topic because Castlevania IV is one of my favorite videogames (as well as one of the first I ever played) and I have very good expectations about this project. Especially from some artists I already know and like (I join the party of those "Castlevania metalhead fans who worship the goat ).
So, congrats again for all the work you are doing and thanks for it. Sure it will be worth the wait

We're working hard behind the scenes. Expect news very soon.

I'm trying to restructure the album idea a bit, since I didn't make it in time for the 20th anniversary and I don't wanna wait for the 25th
 
I'll make a post in the next few days with more details.

Nothing wrong with funky EDM all the time   #noshame
 
And yeah I thought there was quite a bit of variety in this compo;  from all the vocal tracks, Jason's choirs, Maverick Astley, some of the more experimental tracks people like timaeus22222222222 and Usa came up with. Good stuff!

After discussing with ToN, we're probably going to go with the second option, with the following strategy. Let's use Kanto as the example:
A remix would be written by an artist for Bulbasaur. Another artist would then take the Bulbasaur remix and use it as a guidepost to write a remix for Ivysaur. The idea would be to make an "evolved" version of the Bulbasaur remix. A little more intense or energetic, possibly bringing in other sources from the game. Another artist would then build off of the Bulbasaur and Ivysaur remixes and write the Venusaur remix. Again, more intense/energetic, possibly bringing in other sources. The same would be done for Squirtle and Charmader and their respective evolutions. Rather than 9 individual, unrelated remixes, we would have 3 sets of remixes that share thematic ideas. This gives the artists in the sets a chance to collaborate in fun and interesting way, while still having the freedom to bring their own ideas to each individual remix.

Interesting observation you have there. Not sure I agree with you, but you have some points. I can see that a lot of us use the same equipment and instruments (probably because we're all in the same prosumer range) and of course all of us are also influenced by a lot of the same music: game music. That's why we are here on OCR . Using the same game that uses the same genre across its maverick themes would probably cause the tracks to be a bit similar.
As for my own tracks, yeah, they sound like me even though they are in different genres. But if I would compare it to Eino's or Tuberz' tracks they are different too, with Tuberz having a bias to guitar oriented rock and Eino a preference for complex cerebral arrangements. So from a production perspective they might have the same production values (mixing, loud, compression, etc), but if you look/listen deeper I think you can quite clearly identify each person's own style.
Anyway, interesting observation to ponder on