zircon

Snapple and Splunkle are right. Any decent CD burning program should be able to use WAVs fine.

Hopefully! Jiggles McPuff was videotaping the panel, so he should have something for us.

We have returned from Day 1 of Otakon, and I have to say... the panel was a real disappointment. The 10AM slot was terrible! Not a single person came See for yourself: AHAHAHAHAHA just kidding!!! The OCR panel we did went better than I think any of us could have dreamed of, some very small minor technical issues aside. We were seriously expecting on the order of 10-20 people, but we got WELL over ten times that many - I'd say at least 300. The room (which was enormous) was packed, and everyone was really into it. The meetup that followed was a blast, too. You can see more pics at the VGDJ action shot photo album and we'll be sure to have more after tomorrow. Anyway, we're shooting to release the show around Monday evening, since this is gonna be a larger show - but trust me, it'll be worth it.

I don't think so, for a few reasons. One is that I don't really intend to go into the specifics of any one program. Honestly, between resources on the web and instruction manuals, it's not too difficult to learn the ins and outs of a sequencer. Additionally, Finale is a notation program; not only do I not use those, but what more could I say about them? They let you write MIDI notes in traditional staff notation format, nothing too special there.

Indeed this production is Hott. With two Ts. When the kick + bass came in full, I was expecting a muddy mess, to be honest (as that's what we usually get here), but instead, it sounded awesome. Things only really got better from there; normally I'm something of a stickler when it comes to electronic music production, but I have absolutely NO complaints whatsoever for this ReMix's production. Amazing job there. Ok... now, of course, the other part of an OCReMix is it's arrangement. It can be very challenging to succcessfully adapt a tune into a style like the one you have here. I think that you did a good job, all things considered. You were true to the genre without losing sight of the original, and had enough variation of the melody to keep it interesting. Really, my only complaint is that considering the length of the mix, the intro is somewhat long, and the ending is comparatively short. However, this is not a big enough issue to merit a NO vote by any means. This is an excellent remix and I hope to hear more from you in the future! YES

Ooh.. the rhythms you have going on here are very cool! Props on that. The actual theme itself is treated well throughout the mix, though I think it wouldn't have hurt to cut down that introduction a bit. There's a lot of creativity here throughout, and the structure is solid too. Good job. In terms of production, this is quite unique. I haven't really heard anything like it recently. Kind of a cross between Rellik and Shnabubula if I had to make a comparison to other artists. My only complaints in this area are that you have a lot of mid-high and high end stuff going on (hats + tambourines, whistles, high strings) and really very little low end, which makes it feel thin at times. I've actually noticed this in some of your other mixes as well. You might consider looking into a new monitoring system! But anyway, while this is an issue for me, I don't think it's a dealbreaker. YES

Malcos basically hit the issue here. The arrangement/concept part of this mix isn't that bad... it could be a lot more straightfoward. The problem is the production, starting with volume levels and EQing. Tone down the kick, tone down the delay you have on some parts, maybe put more reverb on the snare and less delay, that kind of stuff. Check the ReMixing forum for a variety of helpful threads on these subjects. If you want to focus on your arrangement first, I would cut down on the reliance on the same few riffs, or if you really want to keep using them, vary them more. Changing rhythms is a good way to do that. Also, switch up your percussion more. Adding an addition drumline with a different kick/snare rhythm is the best way to do that, in my opinion. NO

ey fellas (and fell...ettes?) - given the good reaction to the first installment of the Flow Basket, I think I'm going to start planning another one. What would you guys like to hear on there? I was thinking about describing how you can structure a ReMix so it's not too close to the original but not unrecognizable either, as well as perhaps selecting the right instruments for the job. More audio examples this time as I don't have to do a long introduction going through the basics

Moved to the ReMixing forum. Garageband consistently amazes me in its capabilities with each new version. Especially considering how inexpensive it is (for most Mac users, it's free), I think it's an excellent choice for ReMixing.

I was gonna say, at the part right before the Compo report, as well as and right after fat man meats magic turtle, Jill sounds....unusually squeeky. Strange business, that. I'll let you guys on in a little secret... when I was editing this one on my laptop, I think I must have accidentally moved the "pitch" knob next to one of pixie's recordings. Not by much, only a few %. But even when we were going over the show before releasing it, neither of us noticed. Whoops!

ZOMG IT'S A NEW MONTH, SO VOTE FOR VGDJ!!! And yes, kefka laugh ftw. :>

I'm not really feeling the slower pace here. There's not enough going on rhythmically to justify it, in my opinion - the main drum pattern is very simple, and nothing was done with the melody to make it more interesting for a slower tempo. The end result is that it just feels sort of plodding and not very interesting. The synth(s) that play the melody do so in such a straightforward and mechanical way that it's a little painful to listen to them exposed earlier in the mix. Also, the harmony synth that you have going playing fifths doesn't work too well. I think you really want to emphasize the roots of the chords here, because it sounds too cluttered at best, and simply wrong (in parts) at worst. Ultimately, there's a certain degree of interpretation here from the original bridges and some of the harmony patterns, but otherwise the arrangement pretty much falls short. I'd also like to quickly point out that the piano that comes in at 4:01 plays some wrong notes that don't fit with the other chords and patterns. In regards to production, it's a little on the muddy side. I would try to make better use of EQ to separate the different instruments more. I would also try to vary your synth leads more, either by switching the patch up, adding additional effects, or doing some subtle modulation (pitch, filter cutoff, pulse width) in order to make them more interesting. Right now, when combined with their incredibly mechanical sequencing, they are very bland. Lastly, the drum samples don't sound too good, like they're all from 128kbps MP3s. There's no depth to the snare and no sharpness in the hats. The kick sounds nearly GM in quality. Perhaps it's the way you're processing it, I'm not sure, but I certainly think they could be better. This isn't too far off from our bar. Your main focus should be a more interesting arrangement. Next, you should try to sculpt the structure so that it keeps the listener's attention; right now there is hardly any difference from one section to another. It's the same sounds through, similar rhythms, etc. Lastly, tune up some of the production issues I pointed out. Do all that and you're well on your way. NO

We've had enough problems in the past dealing with ReMixes of very short melodies (4 or 5 notes) so I think a remix of a "source" that consists of one chord played twice is simply not acceptable. If we choose to allow this then we're obligated to take any remix of a little fanfare sound effect, or a levelup "ding". It's a cool tune in its own right, but I really don't think it qualifies as a ReMix. NO

Umm.. ouch? Why is this panned mostly right for the whole beginning of the song? It's really pointless and annoying, especially on headphones. I would also say that the intro doesn't flow at all to the next part. Completely different sound and feel. The intro could have been left out entirely, imo, and this would have not been worse off for it. Anyway, the main theme you're remixing is "Forest Frenzy", I believe, which I'm very familiar with as I remixed it myself for the DKC project. It's a bit of a tough one to do because it's rather simple and doesn't have a strong chord progression. But, with that in mind, I think you could have done more with the arrangement than just play the melody with some simple strummed chords in the background. The electric guitar that comes in around halfway to play the map theme (I think) is grating, just like the intro was, so try EQing that differently or just not using it at all. In addition, the distorted "screech" going from ear to ear is also piercing and unwanted. 3:59 or so to the ending is ugly. That's all I have to say about that, unfortunately, as the ending itself was a disappointment. If you want to be more interpretive you have a few options. You can do variations on the melody itself, the rhythms of the melody, or the chord progression; you can add original material, add your own chords, improvise over the original chord progression, that kind of thing. Your production values were more or less strong, outside of a few annoying things here and there which I mentioned, so now you just need to really work on your arrangement. NO

I'll get right to it: the arrangement here is a letdown. For example, the main Zelda theme is far too straightforward. Some more interesting left hand work and harmony would have been nice there. The rhythms were also identical to the original which made it quite predictable. I don't think the multiple repetitions were necessary given that you didn't do much with the Zelda melody at all. I almost wanted to just skip past a few of them because they're simplistic, except for the end of the last one which is a little more engaging. The town theme is equally straightforward, unfortunately. When you're dealing with such simple melodies you really gotta go out of your way to do more with them, especially on the piano when you have no other instruments to fill things out. Considering you are working with three themes here, I feel like you could have done a LOT more in terms of the arrangement. While this level of interpretation would have been acceptable a few years ago, our standards have risen since and I don't think this meets our bar, even though the production and performance are both fine. Listen to solo piano remixes posted since, say, OCR1200 and you'll get a good idea for where our bar is. NO

DJ Aurora?! Now, that's a new one to me... as far as I know, Aurora has always just been "Aurora" on OCR. I could be wrong though. Anyway, I suppose it's also worth noting that from time to time we do some postprocessing stuff to make the sound a little better. For one thing, we always run some serious compression and limiting to smooth out the volume levels, and if there's any high amount of noise - electrical, mechanical, ambient, whatever - we use the noise removal tool in Audacity to clean that up. That was the case with Wingless' recording, for example, in episode 50. It had this low pitched rumble in the background, but with a little selective EQ and noise reduction we got rid of it completely.

L.A.N. Party: Awesome! Thanks for the kind words... glad you enjoy the show. If you're new to the show, definitely try and grab some of our recent special episodes, such as the Video Game Live one and episode 50 (host reunion). In regards to our mics, we actually don't use anything too expensive. Typically, pixietricks uses a Logitech USB headset and I use a Shure SM-58 running through a Behringer UB502 (very cheap mixer) going to my EMU 0404 sound card ($99). When we do live shows we usually use an SM58 and an SM57 instead, but the sound quality isn't quite as good because it's running through my laptop which has a terrible sound card.

Huh, strange. I don't know how that meetup was missed. Ah well. Everybody vooooote! http://www.podcastalley.com/one_vote2.php?pod_id=4140

Episode 051 of VGDJ has been released, and is now available at www.vgdj.net! Now, you might be asking yourself... why was this released on a Tuesday instead of a Monday? I'll tell you why! It's August 1, which means that you should: Vote for us at podcastalley.com! txu :>

Yeah, if that's the kind of thing you're going to be doing, you DEFINITELY want a good CPU. I have Absynth and z3ta+ and they can eat up processor power like crazy depending on the complexity of the patch.

Well.. that's kind of a vague question. Some plugins, like Stylus RMX, take up a big chunk of RAM just to load the wrapper. This is mostly the case with complex sampler plugins or GUI-heavy plugins, even before you load any patches. So, you're always going to want at LEAST 1.5gb of RAM even if you don't plan on using a lot of big samples - I think 2gb is really a minimum at this point if you're going to be doing big projects. If you DO intend to do a lot of heavy-duty sampling then RAM becomes even more important. DFD (direct from disk) streaming will only get you so far. At the same time, you're also going to need a powerful CPU to play back lots of voices in real time, streamed from your HD or not. If you don't think you're going to be doing any sampling at all, and you're strictly dealing with synths and tiny oneshots, then RAM won't be as big of an issue, but CPU will be because it will usually put more strain on your processor to generate a complex waveform from a synth than to simply play back a complex recorded waveform. I'd say they're both equally important overall.

You bring up some salient points. Other suggestions for what I could do with this webspace - community related, of course - would be appreciated.

I've had the domain SoundTempest.net for a few years, but it really has been just sitting there and not doing anything. I have a good deal of space and bandwidth available on the account. My question is this: how many people would peruse the site if I set it up to be a knowledgebase mirroring what's available here at the forums? Relevant threads, posts, discussions, tutorials, and reviews could be compiled and posted there to be preserved with relative ease. Useful soundfonts, programs, or samples could be exchanged without having to worry about going through services like rapidshare. I'd be willing to host songs, clips, and WIPs as well. The idea wouldn't be to replace the forums here, obviously, but to supplement them. Even with vBulletin coming up I think that these forums are best used for discussion.. over time we've had such a massive buildup of stickied threads and informative posts that I think it's becoming a little overwhelming for people. Organizing that static information into an all-in-one resource seems logical. Thoughts?

Since this episode a big deal and all, it would be cool if you guys could Digg the story about the release of 050. http://digg.com/gaming_news/VGDJ_videogame_music_remix_podcast_reaches_episode_50 Thanks!

Episode 50 will be out at 11:00pm EST... get ready, guys!!