Jorito

Whohoo! Will be glad for this one to see the light of day!

Whohoo! Will be glad for this one to see the light of day!

Alright, the final due date has passed, there will be no more tracks accepted for this album. I am working on putting together the final package for review for the staff this week. Thanks for the additional support from members like Voodoo Queen, bLiNd, and Bunnylord (aka TimComposer) for producing some final tracks for everyone to enjoy!

I have released about 30 or so of my OCReMix (and tracks I did for other communities) on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc. In short: there’s this thing called a “compulsory license” in US law, which basically means that if your version can be labeled as a cover (I listened to your track, my biased opinion is that it’d probably be fine) and has seen a commercial release in the US, it will qualify for release on streaming services.
I personally use Soundrop (https://soundrop.com/) for releasing tracks on streaming services. It’s pretty easy to do, and they distribute to all streaming services for $1 per track.
Their FAQ is a good place to start reading up on how it works. You’ll especially find this page helpful: https://support.soundrop.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039589271-Advanced-Cover-Song-Licensing-Request-Tips
When it comes to figuring out what tracks can or cannot be licensed, that page also gives some good advice. The short summary: if it can be found on vgmdb.net as a commercial release in the US, you will be fine. If you can find it in the US Apple Music store (see links in the article above), you will be fine. You arranged a popular song from a popular franchise that has known commercial US releases, so I’m pretty sure it’ll qualify (but I didn’t check).

That’s about it as a starting point. I’d suggest to read the FAQs so you have a sense of what it’s all about, and just sign up and give it a go. The worst that can happen is that they will reject and refund your $1.

Oh, and do keep in mind, every track released on streaming services needs album art too. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it is required.

Hope this enough to get you going, but feel free to ask if you have questions about this.

I have released about 30 or so of my OCReMix (and tracks I did for other communities) on streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon, etc. In short: there’s this thing called a “compulsory license” in US law, which basically means that if your version can be labeled as a cover (I listened to your track, my biased opinion is that it’d probably be fine) and has seen a commercial release in the US, it will qualify for release on streaming services.
I personally use Soundrop (https://soundrop.com/) for releasing tracks on streaming services. It’s pretty easy to do, and they distribute to all streaming services for $1 per track.
Their FAQ is a good place to start reading up on how it works. You’ll especially find this page helpful: https://support.soundrop.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039589271-Advanced-Cover-Song-Licensing-Request-Tips
When it comes to figuring out what tracks can or cannot be licensed, that page also gives some good advice. The short summary: if it can be found on vgmdb.net as a commercial release in the US, you will be fine. If you can find it in the US Apple Music store (see links in the article above), you will be fine. You arranged a popular song from a popular franchise that has known commercial US releases, so I’m pretty sure it’ll qualify (but I didn’t check).

That’s about it as a starting point. I’d suggest to read the FAQs so you have a sense of what it’s all about, and just sign up and give it a go. The worst that can happen is that they will reject and refund your $1.

Oh, and do keep in mind, every track released on streaming services needs album art too. Doesn’t have to be anything fancy, but it is required.

Hope this enough to get you going, but feel free to ask if you have questions about this.

I shot you a DM on Discord but I'd like to take a stab at the Pokemon chapter

Sounds good to me, at casual quick listen. Also fun to hear Natalie sing in French for a bit

Quick update. I've given this a bit of a revamp, and settled on my sounds and samples, and I've filled it out a bit. I have cut the intro verse out of this WIP, since it needs a lot of work. I still need to add more fills and effects.
Next WIP should have an updated intro to it. After that, I plan on working on the final strip down, build up and balls-to-the-wall dance break that it will finish on.
 
Let me know what you think!
 
No Death In Love WIP 4.mp3

This is really, really impressive. I hope Nobuo gets a chance to listen through it. I think he'd be really impressed what you've all accomplished here.

Uhh, this is INCREDIBLE. I admittedly haven't kept up with Jorito's full catalog as of late, but this feels like a substantial level up specifically in terms of production. The percussion has so much impact and fluidity, and there's an incredible level of warmth to the organic instrumentation that gels together flawlessly, despite the massive array of instruments involved. Truly stellar work to everyone involved!

Concerning where this album is at, I'll likely only be looking at roughly finished products that require minor touch-ups at best. I always have plans to resubmit the album within a two month frame, so to be safe I would assume that's how much time you have, though it does tend to get delayed for various reasons.
The front page is where you can find the tracks that are available, and I look forward to seeing what you have in mind.

I'm responding to feedback newmajoe and others gave in the DoD Discord following this decision, so any quotes are from there:
newmajoe was upset that his second panel decision took too long to be made and that he got conflicting feedback between the first and second decisions. In Joe's case, this second decision actually took only 4 days. It'll seem like I'm trying to take arrows for the judges and direct the issues to me. I'm just saying that they actually weighed in very quickly. I saw at several points that Joe was upset about not hearing back sooner, and being encouraged to resubmit the track, but I'M the one who made that process take longer, and I'm the one who encouraged him to resubmit.
That's all on me alone for delaying releasing his specific decision because I wanted to fully explore:
1) whether the track should be examined as potentially outside of our Submissions Standards [which didn't get analyzed/criticized as an issue in the first vote];
2) whether it meant we had to revise the wording in our Standards [we decided no changes in the wording needed to be made]; and
3) how to summarize letting Joe down, especially because any rejection can feel on some unavoidable level like a value judgement on the musician's skills and abilities.
Couldn't have said that better. For that last part, I'll see what I can do to add a point in our Judges Panel FAQ (to do our best) to short-circuit that negative interpretation of a NO vote; not a "solution" but making clear we recognize that artists can take rejections personally when they shouldn't.
We actually didn't need to clarify the wording of the Submission Standards, because the current wording we had explained why the judges didn't pass it the second time:
("The source material must be identifiable and dominant.")
Re: Joe's points above, the spoken word/narration using in-game text (vs. completely original narration) wouldn't be a factor for or against the track.
It was mainly about:
1) the spoken word feeling like the "dominant" element of the track; and
2) the VGM arrangement feeling like "subordinate" accompaniment.
It's very rare that a submission viewed as falling outside of the submissions standards by the judges panel even makes it to the panel in the first place; we'd never encountered this kind of piece. I paneled this due to me assuming the narration style wasn't a problem for OCR's standards.
Yep, I'm sorry that we collectively messed up here with poor communication within the two decisions; we should have recognized and hashed out the Standards concern the first time, not the second time, and Joe was justifiably mad. Again, part of it was due to me being in favor of the track yet being out of step with the other Js, which is also pretty rare. Had I known it would have been a Standards issue on this level, other Js and I would have never encouraged Joe to tweak it or resubmit it in the first place, so he should blame me for that too. I never intended to "waste his time" or stress Joe out, and ended up doing both.
I could have let Joe know that it wouldn't be posted right after seeing how the resub's votes landed, but, as jmr correctly noted, this actually was an unprecedented situation for us, so I also wanted to:
1) have most of the panel fully consider our Submissions Standards wording vs. this type of track, since it wasn't thoroughly considered by the group the first time; and
2) exhaust every chance to make my case, again something where I'm to blame.
We did speak with djp on it, and with the vote so lopsided, he stood by the panel's consensus from their reasoning.
Several people chimed in to praise my demeanor or perspective. I do appreciate being called "rad" and being vouched for by several people.  Unfortunately, I'm far from perfect - the time it took to handle all of this and the process of summarizing & delivering the bad news, that was 100% my direction and my responsibility, and something I have to learn from to improve our process. (BTW, holding up the voting on PuD's "The Hot Pink of Blues", that was me too, which I stood by; I wasn't counting what I perceived as implied chord progressions as direct source tune usage. So I get plenty of bad guy points. :-D)

Great write-up from @Liontamer on an absolute standout track. I try to avoid superlatives of this particular nature, but for me this is going to be my definitive arrangement that I think of, for this source. I've always loved the melody, and I've always found the lyrics to be a strange oscillation between poetic and... somewhat odd. This version makes everything fit together, for me, makes all the pieces click in a way that I feel like I've somehow always needed... at one point I wanted to do my own country western vocal take (!!) on this, which I still think could sound good & is a genre equally underrepresented in the VGM arrangement scene, but some of the appeal there would have overlapped with the appeal here: taking Uematsu's timeless ballad and giving it a bit more longing, placing it geographically further south, giving it air & sand & wood & fire, making it come from somewhere a little deeper & a little further...
Congrats to @CNDR, @Jorito, @Earth Kid & @chriskaudio - quite, quite, quite good; the type of arrangement I will think of & trigger related neurons whenever I think of the album itself, by proxy.
You simply must give it a moment!

Amazing job everyone.
Quick POSITIVE feedback.
Categories - initially (when I first read the project announcement years ago), I wasn't sure how much I liked the Calm | Crazy | Goofy categories but I thought it was unique and interesting but it felt like a gimmick. I now stand corrected, it adds so much to the album and I really really love these categories.  Seeing how each genre fits perfectly in the category interpretation... it's BRILLIANT and I really hope to see this concept used again in future albums.
 
Listening Party - I know it's kind of a new thing we were playing with but it's definitely the way to go.  Not sure how to best market it but it definitely built up the hype.  Great decision here.
 
Collaborations - the amount of collaborations (as was mentioned by @Liontamer and others last night) is truly amazing.  It further improves the community and honestly makes the quality of the songs fantastic.
 
In no way am I criticizing previous albums (which I'm an artist in many) when I say that this album is easily a 10/10
This is particularly impressive given the number of songs on the album.
 
Again, great job everyone!

Hello everyone! We have the great pleasure to announce the Youtube premiere of the long awaited 78th OC ReMix album: Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora! This whopping 5 disc, 80 track album with a runtime of over 5 and half hours will make its debut for your listening pleasure on May 8th at 12 noon PST / 3pm EST / 9pm CET.
Join in on the fun and the discussion at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkYWPV40ON8
Can’t join the full premiere? No worries! After the full album has premiered, there will be independent premieres for each individual discs, scheduled after the full premiere. You can join those at the following links and times:
Disc 1 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ffyb3waAOOg at 7pm PST / 10pm EST / May 9, 4am CET Disc 2 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3_19FY6m1k at 8:15pm PST / 11:15pm EST / May 9th, 5:15 am CET Disc 3 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MB114BRK2Y at 9:30pm PST / May 9th, 12:30am EST / May 9th, 6:30am CET Disc 4 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDbOQYN-UQ4 at 10:45pm PST / May 9th, 1:45am / May 9th, 7:45am CET Disc 5 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lV8APcBXmvg at May 9th; 12am PST / 3am EST / 9am CET See you there!

We're sad to share that ReMixer Daniel "PirateCrab" Woodyer passed away yesterday, Apr. 26th, at only 30 years old, surrounded by his family. He would have turned 31 next month.
Daniel was one of the BEST metal performers in the game music arrangement scene. He contributed 10 pieces to OC ReMix since his first from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 nearly a decade ago, and participated in several community efforts including Pixel Mixers, Shinesparkers, one collaborative performance for Dwelling of Duels, and a pair of OCR albums: Castlevania tribute Vampire Variations III as well as Jet Force Gemini: Mizar Attacks!
He will be missed and will live on through his music.
Rest in Power, Daniel. 🎸
* https://ocremix.org/artist/12706/piratecrab

Hey, just wanted to say sorry I couldn’t commit to this project in the end, after showing some interest last year.
Other things came up, and didn’t have the time in the end, but glad to see you completed it.
Just checked out the album trailer and it sounds great. Can't believe OCR has done 78 albums already!

It is done. The entire album package is complete and all administrative paperwork filed. The rest is in OC Remix staff's hands. Our job as directors is 'basically' over. If all goes well, it won't be but a few weeks more before release! Keep an eye on updates and be prepared for a premiere date and time where hundreds can listen along together once it debuts!

Well, we have a HUGE and UNEXPECTED bonus SURPRISE for all fans and listeners of Final Fantasy VIII music! Even we weren't expecting this grand surprise! We will be revealing this CRAZY, SHOCKING TWIST at the premiere. Be ready! It is coming soon!

It's finally here! The album trailer! Done by the awesome @José the Bronx Rican!!! I hope you all enjoy it and once the Mario Movie hype has died down, we can finally look ahead to imminent release! Hold on to your butts!
 
 

Extensive vocoder... and it's NOT @Jorito?!?
So much fun! The sax solo put it over the top, for me, but the whole thing is just a blast. The glitching/record stops at the very end are a little less 1970's/disco, but very much in keeping with the mix title, and the hook reminds me a little of Daft Punk's "Get Lucky". I was coincidentally JUST playing this (gorgeous, creative) game, and while I will always remain a dog person, it's a unique & extremely well-done experience.
Amazing to think that composer Nurykabe had a Faxanadu mix posted wayyyyyyy back in 2009; time flies!

We’re in the tail end of the process now.
We have a fair few left who are in the polishing and fixes stage of their tracks due to OCR judge panel feedback. We’re waiting for these final few tracks to get finalized before our masterer can finish their job. 
 
The release trailer is coming together and we got a general layout and flow to the video now. So that’s in the works.
Finally, the website is complete minus a few required last minute changes when it goes live.
Not long now, everyone! 
 
Note: I’m also planning several YouTube premiere parties hosted at different times upon release so each major timezone groupings can snag a listen. More words to follow on that! 

I don`t know exactly what I want to say, and none of this is planed out, but I think its wild this place is still around. For one reason or another Ill check the remixes and get a wave of "the good old days"  and not just from the music but this community, Which Ill admit, I was not super active, but from the time when I first came across it, I think maybe a  TechTv show sent me this way? Its wild people are still mixing Aquatic ambiance, and it still puts a smile on my face. 

I remember the first album I watched get released was Kong In Concert, I burned it to a disc (mp3 cd players were so cool) and would listen to it in Algebra 1, perhaps its why  took algebra one twice.  
I always wanted to be musical I would love to be able to contribute in that way. Thank you to everyone that still makes music for this community even If it gets said once or thousands of time it's very appreciated. 

 

In my personal experience, having a midi gets in the way too much. Not only does it push you stay close to the original when it comes to the notes (because you’ll likely end up using the same chords, same chord progression, etc) by design (because the material is already there), it also pushes you to stay close to the source when it comes to the structure (as to your point with the midi running out and making changes in part A and B).
For me, not using a midi helps in a few ways. The first way, not sticking to exactly the same notes and making up my own chord progressions and basslines I already elaborated. The second one, structure, is equally important. I like to think out of the box with it. Who says that part A in the source needs to be part A in my remix? Why shouldn’t I make part C the verse, part A the chorus and use part B as a bridge or foundation for a solo section?
Structure is for me always on a case-by-case basis and a bit of an interesting puzzle and a neat challenge to think about and play with. And looking at track writeups from my mixposts, that approach seems to be appreciated. In general I’d like to think of my arrangements as bits of legos that I can move around in different orders until I have a structure and arrangement that I think works. And there’s no single good answer
Lastly, this approach works very well whenever you’re trying to create a remix that uses more than one source. I can’t imagine the hassle of having to wrestle with 2 (or more) different midis in one project and trying to make that work, sounds too cumbersome to me.
TL;DR: I’m lazy and this was the easiest method method for me to work (as counter intuitive as it may sound to some of you).

In my personal experience, having a midi gets in the way too much. Not only does it push you stay close to the original when it comes to the notes (because you’ll likely end up using the same chords, same chord progression, etc) by design (because the material is already there), it also pushes you to stay close to the source when it comes to the structure (as to your point with the midi running out and making changes in part A and B).
For me, not using a midi helps in a few ways. The first way, not sticking to exactly the same notes and making up my own chord progressions and basslines I already elaborated. The second one, structure, is equally important. I like to think out of the box with it. Who says that part A in the source needs to be part A in my remix? Why shouldn’t I make part C the verse, part A the chorus and use part B as a bridge or foundation for a solo section?
Structure is for me always on a case-by-case basis and a bit of an interesting puzzle and a neat challenge to think about and play with. And looking at track writeups from my mixposts, that approach seems to be appreciated. In general I’d like to think of my arrangements as bits of legos that I can move around in different orders until I have a structure and arrangement that I think works. And there’s no single good answer
Lastly, this approach works very well whenever you’re trying to create a remix that uses more than one source. I can’t imagine the hassle of having to wrestle with 2 (or more) different midis in one project and trying to make that work, sounds too cumbersome to me.
TL;DR: I’m lazy and this was the easiest method method for me to work (as counter intuitive as it may sound to some of you).