José the Bronx Rican

I got some pics, but I was exhausted after a not-so-great trip back home, and I just got up and am heading to work in minutes. Be ready in the afternoon.

It's about 8AM. I'm at Doug's; q-pa and ferret in front of me, getting extra sleep. I'm, of course, working on stuff, Atomic Runner MIDIs in particular. zirkie both got the advance preview of my latest ReMix submission, Doug's recital piece was great, and everybody was on Brawl. The BBQ is next later today.

Yeah, bad on that blog for linking "soundtrack" to that page. The tunes on the forums so far have far fewer problems.

What's interesting is that the music doesn't go to either extreme, so the drama really is a bit much. This project calls for neither "original tunes note for note," or "arbitrary solos and melodic variations." The MIDIs used are from a few sequencing veterans (I happen to be one too), such as my good colleagues Teck and EspioKaos (John Weeks); the former does quite a bit of interpretation in his works, the latter follows the source closely. If you're gonna rip MIDIs, these files are great for it. The "poor" part, unfortunately, is in the sounds and mixing: a lot of it is extremely muddy in places, and drowning in reverb; some of these instrument sounds, especially the brasses, don't come off much better than their FM counterparts, or even the sounds from default Audigy Soundfonts. Even using the same MIDIs, they could be done better. Being a fan project, of course, means there's plenty of time for improvement, unless that C&D really is coming.

Figures there'd be rain. Wasn't expecting to make BBQ at any rate, but I'd like the sleepo because I'd hate to have to travel home on a Saturday night (any earlier wouldn't make it much of a meet). Also, some of you know breakfast the next morning is my favorite part of any meetup.

I wanna BBQ, but I expect it'll occur around the time I have to head back home (catching the bus at 2:30). So, drat.

Agreed: last I checked, some .avi's encoded certain ways are fine, but WM9-encoded .wmv's give better results. Happily, they also work perfectly on my Creative Zen Vision. Then again, a few things changed since last time I upped a video, so I oughta look into ideal specs again.

Be cool to see one of those aforementioned performances, if it's not too long. binary's seems early and a bit distant, considering we may need at least a half-hour just to gather all of us, not to mention lunch, which I'll almost certainly need after catching a bus at 7:30 AM. When's Doug doing his thing, and where? I'd like to get into Peabody again, take another pic at the staircase (I used the last one as wallpaper), maybe do another ersatz accapella. Have we got any definites on sleepovers? Leaving you guys on Sunday afternoon sucks a lot less than on Saturday afternoon. Can Kroze get his VC SOR2 on his Wii? Can anyone else? I'd like to try out my Max/Axel skillz. Also looking to see Smash Brawl in action. Wait, I got more: *Bill Cosby voice* any chance of trying out (perhaps helping out with) that famous zirco pudding? ...I just got an evil idea. Holding that thought... BTW, after Shea Stadium got rickrolled, that fad pretty much died for me.

*salute* to the leg end.

I'm now confident I'll have the cash and alternative transportation figured out; I'll be coming. I'm also certain to have a new ReMix submitted by then.

Eat your heart out, Phil Collins.

Can't decide 'till after tax deadline, at the earliest.

Listening to the sources again, I think I've got an interesting idea for "Steel Drum Rhumba." I just wish I knew when I can offer a draft. This month's not looking good, but I'll see what I can "WIP" up as quickly as possible.

What? No Orlando Bloom?

That's who they mean by "others." Him and Protricity.

Good luck to everyone. Don't doubt the pedigrees; we're talking about a roster of pros and semi-pros who are pretty quick/efficient/kickass. I don't believe for a minute they'll miss deadline. I will admit, however, my very first thought was, "Damn, some series just get projects up the colon while other deserving titles haven't been touched yet!" But that kind of thing is up to my slow ass, innit? One day after your deadline, I will discuss Yu-know-who.

Holy shit, this is right up my alley for several reasons... I'm working on a Sonic & Knuckles Sandopolis mix in a similar manner: Loose Ends style. I'm a huge Paul Hardcastle fan, especially of his earlier 80's sound; Track 1 hits the spot. Moments in Love is one of my all-time favorites. "Syntax Era," whether the reference was intentional or not, takes me back to the classic L.O.N.S. album, "T.I.M.E." One track had that title. Larry will be all over Track 5.

I generally agree, especially with the text: I considered switching positions of the "rank" and "titles." Different colors can be chosen,as well. It's all prelim, and I leave it open to be tweaked if we have something official.

These should do it at my end, using Larry as an example this time. My basic design is wrapped up; any further revisions can be up to Dave and staff. Kanthos, PM's.

Got a little time now, so I'm back to work on this design. I'll offer printouts and templates soon, but before I settle on a final, along with a rear design, a little help choosing a font among the following. I've narrowed my choices down to a few for membernames and two for the titles. Names, especially, demand a nice sans-serif for maximum legibility. I'm leaning toward Trebuchet and Cornerstone; how about it?

Perfect!! See you at OTAKON.

It was never officially alive; just a fun project. But in the interest of identification, I'm definitely willing to print and pass 'em out at meetups or whatever, after finding the best low-cost method. I'll tweak my designs later this week: look into other viable sans-serif fonts, create a rear, stuff like that.

All I got was Road Bolo Olsen Snail.

Juuuuuuuuuuuuuuust made deadline, and I'm pretty proud of the fact this work only took two weeks instead of the usual two years. I may have mastered it with much low-end and not enough mids, but it sounds pretty good. I really like the result, so I may re-master and submit here.

Everything I've heard from Dave to this point tells me he and his "L.L.C." have really gone out of their way legally to do right by us artists re: use of this music (and proper credit for it) specifically on this game release, and that we may be taken care of in the case of any future use of the music outside of the game and its promotion. If other companies from here on out do the same thing and somehow jerk the artists around one way or another, you couldn't blame it on ocremix. We'll be alright; always remember, we ourselves were never on the firmest legal ground with what we do. There has to be good faith somewhere on this planet. Now back to my Rocket Knight challenge...