The Coop

WIP sent, as promised.

I'll get something to you later tonight. I want to get the WIP up to at least about a minute.

I'd kill to do a piano solo take of "On the Beach of Dreams (Another World)." I've always loved that one minute tune.

Well, we're a bit over a month away from the due date of Dec. 11. Thus far, I've gotten one song, so we're off to a bit of a slow start. This evening I'll be sending PMs to those who expressed interest in doing something for the album to see if they're still up for it. So for those who've posted in here, keep an eye on your inbox. And no, that's not a euphemism.

We're releasing it. That's about as special at it gets But no, there's nothing overtly special being done. Make music, gather music, put it all up for consumption.

**pokes thread** Any updates?

I've received nothing. NOTHING I SAY!

Yeah, that's fine. The key is to get the final, finished song to us before the deadline. Nope. As long as you can get a song done on time, you could join a week before that deadline

Alright folks. It's time for anyone interested to start getting their songs going if you haven't already. For the mathologically impaired, there's two months and 10 days from this post before the final deadline for submitting finished tracks on December 11, 2016. And knowing how this project has gone in the past, that's not as much time as it seems. So for those who have been putting it off, it's time to get to work. The good people of OCR (and the world?) are counting on us to either make or break their Christmas spirit. But no pressure.

I know it's been a while (and where did Nathaniel's posts go?), but I just released the second single from my album. This one's called, "Revenant's Waltz"... https://soundcloud.com/dragonwolfdesign/revenants-waltz

I'll be holding you to this, djp. The first time I play an OCR Youtube video/playlist and see that goddamned 15 second auto insurance commercial about the "perfect record" pop up, I will stomp my feet and be very irked. And you wouldn't like me when I'm irked. I get all big, green and puffy.

It'll all go into my presidential campaign super pac. The Coop 2032! Make America WTF again!

I don't think it's so much how obtrusive the ads are, as it is that they're present on the remix videos in the first place. That seems to be the biggest contention. Plus, if neutrality was as important as you seem to be potentially suggesting, I can't see announcing it and discussing possible advertisements and ad styles providing any less or more neutrality than slipping it in and waiting to see the reaction. The people who are fine with it are still going to be fine with it. And those who are against it, will still hate it. Frankly, if anything, sneaking it in could stand a better chance at adversely affecting peoples' thoughts about doing it. But at least bringing it up first would have possibly avoided some of what's going on in this thread.

OCR has a history of sizeable changes being discussed to get the opinions of users and remixers. From the legalese form, to website changes/additions, many times the staff has touched base with the users. At times, the users even helped shape aspects of the changes as a result. The YouTube monetization however, was done with no discussion, using the remixes themselves. If it was important to seek our opinions and thoughts over the OCR submission agreement, I believe talking directly to patrons of the site (especially those with remixes on it) over monetizing the individual remix videos is a valid point to address.

Just to play Devil's Advocate for a moment, if a company were to start slapping copyright claims on OCR's YouTube channel, couldn't that then lead to issues with the site that's hosting the remixes that got flagged? You know, kind of point the lawyer dogs to OCR and raise questions? Anyway, I personally don't really care, to be honest. For all of the years I've been coming here, if my four old remixes help pay for the site's upkeep, that's fine. Just don't get me sued, OK? However, I can understand why others would get upset about suddenly having their remixes be directly attached to someone else's income, especially with the secretive manner in which it was done. That can rub some people the wrong way (as we've seen thus far in this thread) and I feel it should have been handled in a better, more open manner. I also want to say that I too see a difference in the "ads on the site" vs "ads in the remix video" methods of monetizing. One is on the paid-for site you're in the middle of using that has costs to cover, while the other is directly on the song someone else made that's being hosted for free outside of said site (unless I'm mistaken, OCR doesn't pay for their YouTube channel). That is a sizeable difference in my eyes when it comes to the source of the revenue, so I don't agree with the "they're the same" assessment others have put forth. All that said, if the OCR staff want to put ads on the versions of my remixes that OCR hosts, feel free. Helping out this site after some 14-plus years of being here is peachy. I just hope that future monetization changes will actually be discussed openly, rather than slipped in until someone catches it. Less drama that way... potentially.

Check your PMs, Touchstone.

Just wanted to say that I haven't forgotten about the website. I should have something at least semi-functional by this weekend. It'll be simple, but it'll work. Oh, and the cover is officially done now as well. Just need the title order/mixer names for the back.

This album is open to anyone, so if you want to do a remix from that game, go ahead.

Nope. You could do Rap, Rock, Country, Folk, Classical, Death Polka... whatever floats your boat.

Well, it's July 4, and the June 1 WIP deadline #1 came and went. Anyone have... well, anything? Anything at all?

Darkstalkers 4 and Einhander 2.

I know some folks will swear by Macs for video, graphical and audio work, but frankly, the days of Macs having a leg up in those areas are long gone in my opinion. There are many programs out there that will allow you to do the same work on a PC at the same speed. Sure, the Mac has a few Mac-only programs, but the PC has that aspect to it as well, along with many quality programs that work just fine on both (Sonar, Adobe products, etc.). Plus, you can usually get a powerful PC for less than a similar-specs Mac, so that could give you some cash to use toward other things (software, components, etc.). So yeah, I'd say unless you've got a hard on for some Mac-only program, get a PC and put the money you'd save toward something more useful than an Apple logo.

Thanks for the kind words, Nathaniel The piano is indeed a VST. I put a lot of time into making it expressive and ensuring that it was something two hands could actually play so it would feel more real. And while I don't want to give away the event in my novel that "Twilight March" was inspired by (it's a bit of an important plot point), I will say the the somber-ish mood of the song, its name, as well as its steady and methodical rhythm, should tell you that it's not about a happy, wanted stroll in a sun-lit park Actually, that song has a rather long history with me, but I won't bore you with the details. Again, thanks for the compliments.

Thanks, NutS. Both for the bumpage and the compliment