big giant circles

very pretty and mystifying. good stuff.

http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=8940 check first post for a big update to the itinerary draft. input?

Big itinerary draft update. See first post. Map included.

Meh, I see the backing for both the YES and NO votes--and I guess I have to make my stand on the latter for now. Very soothing and pretty, yes. However, this is hardly captivating, and I don't mean that to sound harsh or overly critical. But this is just a little too dry to bear any OCR-sheen. The left hand is downright dull for the most part. There's very slight dynamic variation, but hardly enough to bring forth any significant energy in the track. And I usually don't feel so picky when it comes to medleys, but Vig is absolutely right. Each particular section just simply doesn't develop in the track. I understand that you can't just change from black to white in terms of style, or when there's a switchup in melody, but it really should go SOMEWHERE. I think this is a good foundation, but I'd like to hear a little more energy/emotion seeping through. NO, RESUBMIT

:bump: FAQ has been updated.

With a little over 3 weeks till the show, I hope everyone is getting their arrangements made. I wish there were a way to avoid hotel costs, but it looks like it's just not realistic. So my personal suggestion is to start calling hotels and checking rates, then seeing who else will share the room and help out with splitting the rate. I understand that this event is going to cost a little $$$, but this may be a once in a lifetime sort of meetup. I doubt there will be another one comparable to what we've got lined up: -touring around DC -meet and greet all the OCR-ers, including DJP, and some of the staff -possibly meeting with some of the big dogs of VGL -VGL itself (feat. National Symphony Orchestra!!!) -fun filled BBQ at the lake -PS3, 360, and Wii -music -BT is rumored to attend VGL as well, so perhaps he'll be there meetups just don't get any better than that! Let's get things finalized now, so we don't have to scramble last minute!

Drumwork is pretty cool. Trumpets are pretty obnoxious. A bit on the short side, but what's here is pretty cool. Performance is fairly slick for the most part. Certain rhythms in the performance could stand to be tightened up just a tad. The soundfield gets a little bit cluttered from time to time--probably a hard thing to avoid due to the loud and spaztic nature of the arrangement. This is pretty fun to listen to. If you could possibly polish up the production just a notch, clean up the "clutter" so to speak, and perhaps just tighten up the rhythms in addition to rethinking whatever patch you were using for the brass, I think you'd probably be able to snag a YES from me. Not quite borderline, but very close. Please Resubmit. NO

Really cool video compilation of scenes from Astro Boy to the music of Bionic Electronica put together by Phantasmagoriat. Should be added to OCR soon. also: '05 meetup videos are awesome

Well, first of all, my apologies to Leah for taking so long to get around to voting on her track. We've all been slacking lately. We really sincerely do need to get off our butts and start making more time to vote. As one of the resident electronica remixers on the panel, I've got to stand on Jesse's side of the vote. This mix is extremely cool. It's pretty unique in it's own rights too, at least comparing it to many other electronic tracks on the site lately. I for one have tend to be fond of any sort of electrosynth-type action lately, as long as it's got good drumwork alongside it, which this does. I also love ethnic instruments lately, so that's another element that's helped this mix gain favor in my ears. I also have absolutely zero qualms with the production. I think Leah's proven quite adept with her software tools. As for the level of arrangement, I have to admit it was a pain to do my homework, because it has been AGES since I've played OOT, and as stand-alone music, the source themes are kind of boring. I'm sure they're fine as BGM, but anyway. Back to the point, I agree with Vig that the more listens I had, the better I heard the connection. And I think I've decided lately that there are some cases when it's OK to get a little liberal. I mean, hell, if Israfel can make a 5 minute track out of a 5 second riff then I certainly don't have a problem with what Leah's done here. So let's see if I can summarize here. Though this is obviously "busier" than the original track (source, that is), there's plenty of attention to all the qualities that I look for in an OC ReMix. The stylistic approach is energetic, and creatively executed within a genre that otherwise tends to be dubbed so "cookie cutter" oftentimes. There's a strong variety in terms of instrumentation, peppy synth arpeggio work, pretty tight drum sequencing, and some creepy-awesome vox complete with eerie-to-the-max FX. Production is fine - all frequencies seem to fit into the soundbox just fine, and despite the fact that there's a lot going on, I never once found the mix to sound cluttered. I'm not usually so adamant about my votes, but I simply don't see how this is not over the bar in present form. solid YES <---BGC voted in size 7!? (and I almost NEVER go larger than size 5 or 6 Great first sub, Leah! (OMG, another girl remixer!!!!!11!1!one!11!)

nah, it's a legit question i'm officially bringing my mom's van. it can hold 7. (legally). but seriously, though, i don't think i'd feel comfortable cramming more than 8 max. and that's only if it's a last resort thing.

you know WHO can bring it on a mic? DISCLAIMER: You're about to be BLAZED THIS GUY

update - 6/12 MAP FRIDAY - we are meeting at the Washington monument at NOON. Here is a map. More details to follow soon. ================================================================================== Alright, this is the thread where we hammer out details (the other thread has become kind of long, and it mostly deals with the details of the concert itself.) Before you up and respond to this thread, take a second to look over the specific topics for discussion. There are some things we need to know. Specifically: Where are you traveling from? How will you be arriving? (car? plane? train?) What are your (estimated) travel costs? When will you be arriving? Are you planning on attending BOTH concerts (Fri + Sat)? How long are you staying? These are all just things for us to all take into consideration when drawing up the actual itinerary. Now then, since the event is still a month away, there are naturally some details that are yet to be finalized. We'll let everyone know for sure as soon as we know. Here is what we do know for sure. -Dave has offered space at his house for a few people to stay. Due to spacial limitations, he cannot accommodate the entire group. At this point, those people will most likely be Pixie, Zircon, Wingless, Taucer, Escariot, and his g/f. -There will more than likely have to be additional lodging arrangements made. This includes the possibility that some of you may have to look into getting a hotel room for a night or two. I encourage everyone who's planning on spending the night in (or near) DC to start working that out now, so no one's left sleeping in their car. If any of you have friends/relatives in or near there, now would be the time to call them. -Friday during the day is a gray area. That's why we need to find out when people are arriving. Me personally, I'll more than likely be there all or most of the day Friday, and I'd be fine just bumming around DC and seeing the sights until the show (which is at 8pm, for those who still don't know). Are enough people going to be there that this could be a group activity? -Saturday morning/afternoon, it has been proposed that we gather in a (currently undecided) location for food, games, etc. The current leading candidate is Burke Lake Park, where they have pavilions, frisbee golf, boat rentals, swimming, etc. How many people would be up for this? Also, it should be understood that if we do such an activity, we'll probably require that everyone who attends contribute some amount towards such. It won't be much, and the money will go toward things like parking and the cost of the food. (No one's trying to turn a profit or anything, rest assured). So there you have it. Answer questions, and discuss. Go.

JJT's is coming along nicely

judging by the promotional video available at the VGL website, it looks like most folks who attended were garbed in casual attire. i personally wasn't planning on wearing anything *special* other than the OCR shirt.

What are the odds of getting a completed track list with Remixers attached and which source tunes they've covered? Or is that a surprise?

Hey everyone. Check out the "Track of the Day" in the "Trance" category at Garage Band (for May 29th). http://www.garageband.com/genre/trance w00t

Didn't see this anywhere in the queue, and I didn't see it in the J-decisions forum or DP candidate list, so I guess I guess this is the right place for it? -BGC Shit, I'm sorry. I went and looked in my email for the confirmation letter and it's marked March 30th, not April. I don't know if that helps. is the link. Googlepages is known for being the devil, so if it doesn't download right, won't go past two minutes, etc. let me know. Alright, it should be updated. Here's the other stuff that would be in the email. Fratto Brian Fratto fratteau@yahoo.com Forum ID 19367 Chrono Trigger Guardia Forest

Dang, this is like a totally different submission of the same tune, rather than a tweaked version for resub. At any rate, this kicks ass. I kind of miss the chill section that the prior version had, but all in all, there's some incredible electrosynth stuff going on, and the underlying horns are a nice touch. Great attention payed to stereo separation. Drum sequencing is pretty tight, and there's a lot of energy in this track. No gripes in terms of production, and arrangement is on point as well. I didn't find any of it to be too repetitive, and it's got just the right amounts of liberal and literal interpretation to come out with the perfect OCR-esque quality IMHO. Definitely a solid YES

voted [/10 char]

BTW, as soon as I can manage to work up some particular details from Dave and Larry, I'll be making an officially "Itinerary Thread" so that folks won't have to rummage through 20ish pages of stuff. Actually, I may go ahead and do that here in a few minutes. That way we can have a new thread open for discussion with suggestions and ideas etc for how we're going to spend our time outside of the concert.

Aight, first of all, EC contacted me a while ago as to inquire to the status of this one. I apologize that I'm only now *officially* voting. I've had a few rounds with this one since you initially approached me, and typically, the tougher a call a mix is, the longer it takes me to actually get down and do the dirty work (vote, that is). Blah, blah, blah, excuses, I know. Moving on. First off, let me just say that this is totally DDR-quality material. Each time I liten, I can close my eyes and see a little 3D person dancing behind a bunch of arrows with that announcer dude chiming in to say stuff like "WOW, YOU'RE AWESOME!" or something. The opening flute and sound FX were aight, the sequencing was in fact a little rigid--I might suggest layering a couple different pan flute sounds together and adjusting the velocities a little as a possible quick-fix for that. It didn't really bother me a ton, but I thought I'd suggest it anyway. I gotta be honest. I'm not a huge fan of the monoglide synth lead. Now, don't get me wrong, I love some good portamento action, but leads tend to sound flimsy and nasal (if that's possible for a synth) in that mode. It made it hard for me to focus on the rest of the music. Not to mention the fact that it was such a generic sounding lead to begin with. If couldn't have been a bad thing to apply some modulation and filtering here-or there. There's really not much for me to gripe at in the production corner. I guess what it came down to for me, is the instrumentation. There's the 1-2 standard club beat, the uber fat trance pads, the alternating octaves bass, and the lead which I already covered. The chimes at 1:36 were really refreshing, to be honest. I guess the reason this is a tough call, is that technically there's nothing *wrong* with the mix, but it just came off as so repetitive. I really feel strongly in that the song is well enough produced, but lacks any kind of "WOW" in terms of instrumentation. So I guess that's gonna be my critical gripe, bro. If you're going to leave the instrumentation as-is, I suggest reworking the arrangement to make the piece a little less repetitive. With all three judges asking for a resub (I'd say Vig essentially is, since he gave the "borderline" adj.), I sincerely hope you do, man. NO REWORK and RESUBMIT

Bleh, this source was extremely muddy, and I wasn't really all that impressed in general with the delay on the piano. Plus, the strings and piano simply don't play well off each other IMO. At any rate, the nice thing about dull source material is that there's a good chance the remix will be better off as stand-alone. So let's see what we got here. Harp + tiny bells sounded much better right off the bat. Some legato strings chiming in soon after. the slow-attack strings playing the melody at 1:04 was awkward. Seems theres a little bass-pluck at 1:19 to add a little more depth (thankfully). Definitely a song worthy of carrying the word "lament" in the title. Typically, I'm not a fan of sparse textures such as at 1:48, but taking into account the previous sentence, I'm OK with it at this point. All in all, the strings are a little too fakey for me to be completely satisfied with the mix. I could handle the less than pro-quality samples in and of themselves, were it not for the style. The thin textures (ultimately caused by the style, and not a result of poor writing--an unfortunate case) kind of overemphasize the fact that these strings could use a little more beef, or realism. If you can track down better samples/patches, more power to you. If not, maybe try a reEQ of the instruments, and beef up the dynamic diversity so that the textures won't overexpose the (slightly sub)average-quality strings. It's a tough call, as it's not the biggest of issues, as far as I'm concerned, but I think this is pretty close, and shouldn't be too difficult to fix up before throwing back down the RESUB chute. TWEAK/REFINE/RESUBMIT. NO

Shaun, hey, bud, glad to see someone else rubbing a little love on the ol' FFA. Sweet. Now, on a more unfortunate note, I gotta be honest bro, I wasn't feeling the first 2:16 at all. Bass around 2:20 and after is pretty cool. Mellow, but with cool fills. I was a little disappointed by the drum sequencing, after recently hearing Skryp's "Skala" mix. I was expecting something a little more IDM-ish, with a little more intensity (despite this being a pretty mellow remix). The piano chords in the beginning with the kick really just didn't collaborate all that well in the final play, I think. And the drums seem so muffled for the duration of the mix. It makes it hard to really get a fair opinion of whether or not they're done well or not. I guess the main problem is that I know and love this source tune super well--like, it's probably encoded into my DNA at this point, and the first 2 minutes just seems like it's been altered with some unusual offsetting of the melodic rhythm as well as accompanying chords. It's unnatural, and thus confusing (for me). Then, when the more familiar style of arrangement kicks in after 2:16, it's pretty near, exact of what it is in the source. Shaun, you're one of the most productive people I know, as you seem to spit out a new remix on a weekly basis, and I envy your ability to do so, as it seems increasingly difficult for me to finish (or even start new) projects lately, but I still think there's some room for this one to grow. Keep at it, bro. Again, muchos gracias for dipping into the FFA love. NO

very nice! (i wonder how many people can use the word nice in their response)

so i guess we should have a party of 4 total then? i had mentioned about borrowing the van, but with inflated gas prices looming overhead, i'll probably just take the camry. seats 4 comfortably, 5 cramped. RFB, i need to catch you on AIM one of these days so we can work out travel particulars--days, time, etc. PM me your s/n or something if you don't care.