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ASK A JUDGE: While we're busy NOT voting - your questions, we want 'em

Liontamer

By Liontamer,
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Level 99 Newbie

Level 99

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Yeah, great job with picking up the pace in the past short period of time, and though I know the queue usually ebbs and flows like the tides and y'all kinda work in bursts, I hope you can keep it up.

1) I agree about the notification of direct post, but is there a similar process if the mix is just accepted by the judge's panel? I know a mix isn't "official" until it's actually posted, and you all seem to keep the Judging Queue thread semi-regularly updated, but what if a mixer doesn't come around that often? I feel that it would be nice to send them an email, just as one would get an email after OCR receives their submission. Not all the mixers that submit may have the luxury of constantly checking the site, and hopefully it's not too much extra effort just to send out a lil' email.

2) I can't remember if it's been specifically mentioned or if I've already asked, but is there a formula or rule to determine how many, if any, songs from a project can be picked for a mix-flood? It seems to be around 1/6-1/7 of a total project's tracks if it's medium sized (going by a Xenogears average of two discs), but in the case of JM's Castlevania album, there were three song, which constitutes almost half the album. I'm not being nitpicky, but it's just nice to know what to expect from all the upcoming projects in terms of mix-flood, and if there's any way someone can shed a little light on it, I'd appreciate it. If the answer is "however many I feel like", I'll even accept that.

3) Is there a limit to how many times a song can be resubbed?

4) When I submit a song, I feel like I have a tendency to overwrite the submission email. If y'all haven't gotten to it, be forewarned that my sub from the end of September probably counts as a small college-level essay. Is there a preferred length that you'd want to call a maximum for submission descriptions, and is there anything in-particular that YOU like to see in the description (such as a source breakdown for reference, what parts are original, etc.)?

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big giant circles Newbie

big giant circles

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Posted (edited)

1) I thought we already did agree to start notifying people when their song was passed. I'm not sure if we're actually doing it now or not. But then again, a sub is never a sure-thing until it's actually on the front page. And not to sound unconcerned or anything, but if someone submits a song to OCR and then just never ever checks back, then ya know, that's just kind of weird.

2) Pretty much as many as Dave feels like :) There's no set limit how many project tracks can be submitted/posted to OCR.

3) Fortunately (and in some cases unfortunately) no. Anyone is free to submit their song 2 times or 200 times.

4) I used to do the same thing. I would write a freaking book every time I submitted. Now that I'm a judge though, I realize how impractical it is for us to read every singe submission email. So I usually just skim them. I enjoy interesting facts/trivia about remixers and remixes, but I honestly don't really care to read 2,000 words of the evolution of music and how it had an impact on a submission. I mean, it's no crime to have long emails, because other people will have the chance to read them once it gets moved to "Judges Decisions", but ya know, be as concise as possible, and be practical.

Actually, this gives me an opportunity to spell out and example of the IDEAL submission email.

*****************************

Real Name - Johnny BillyBob

Remixer name - DJ Untz

email - untzuntzuntzuntzuntz@aol.com

Hello! This is my first submission to OCR! I've wanted to make a remix of [insert obscure game here] because I feel like it has an AMAZING soundtrack! I picked the "Castle 2 theme" which you can listen to here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ObscureGameOSTSong

And here's the remix:

http://www.thisisafakelinkdonotclickit.com/AwesomeRemix.mp3

I used Ableton Live to make this. Since the original sounds kind of medieval-sounding and I did an electronic remix in a different key, here's a bit of a breakdown:

0:00 - 0:31 is based on the string loop from :07-:21 in the source.

0:32 - 0:45 is just an original arpeggio I programmed in to build up the energy.

0:45 is where the bass comes in, and it follows the chords from :24 to :34 in the source

1:02 - 1:48 is based on the main melody of the source (at :41)

1:49 is the breakdown. Some cool beats thrown in for fun :)

2:20 is the melody again, with some cool synth solo added.

2:52 is actually based on the Sonic the Hedgehog theme.

3:31 - end goes back to the same progression as the source intro.

So that's the general idea. Obviously this is not a requirement, but you see in the case of receiving a submission that is either of a really obscure game that nobody is familiar with, or a remix that is drastically different than the source tune, providing a link to the source music and a reasonable breakdown of which parts of the remix are citing which parts of the source, it tends to speed up judging in a pretty huge way. We're still gonna listen and confirm, just to make sure, but still, having the general guide from the get-go is generally tremendously helpful. At the very least, people should always specifically cite what they are remixing. "Here's a remix from the Legend of Zelda" is just ridiculous. (That's happened before) That's a huge series, and it's stupid to expect us to dig through hours of music just to find the one tune that your mix is based on.

Edited by big giant circles
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KyleJCrb Newbie

KyleJCrb

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Posted
2) I can't remember if it's been specifically mentioned or if I've already asked, but is there a formula or rule to determine how many, if any, songs from a project can be picked for a mix-flood? It seems to be around 1/6-1/7 of a total project's tracks if it's medium sized (going by a Xenogears average of two discs), but in the case of JM's Castlevania album, there were three song, which constitutes almost half the album. I'm not being nitpicky, but it's just nice to know what to expect from all the upcoming projects in terms of mix-flood, and if there's any way someone can shed a little light on it, I'd appreciate it. If the answer is "however many I feel like", I'll even accept that.

In the case of SoS, Larry had me nominate a bunch of tracks to be paneled (not all of which have gone through yet, unfortunately), and then had the ones that passed and were Direct Post material posted on and after the release date. There is no limit on how many tracks from a project can be posted, as far as I know. Basically it's however many the director chooses, how many pass the panel, and how many are chosen for Direct Post.

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Palpable Newbie

Palpable

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Posted
1) I agree about the notification of direct post, but is there a similar process if the mix is just accepted by the judge's panel? I know a mix isn't "official" until it's actually posted, and you all seem to keep the Judging Queue thread semi-regularly updated, but what if a mixer doesn't come around that often? I feel that it would be nice to send them an email, just as one would get an email after OCR receives their submission. Not all the mixers that submit may have the luxury of constantly checking the site, and hopefully it's not too much extra effort just to send out a lil' email.

We're totally with you. We actually have form letters written up for regular pass too, but haven't tested it out yet. I'm gonna try the direct post ones first because there's less of them, the decision is less likely to change, and I get the most PMs asking if the mix fell through. We're also experimenting a little with when we close decisions, so if a fair number of our regular decisions get reopened, form letters when it passes might not be a good idea.

I've mentioned this before to Dave and Larry, but I wasn't aware that either of my first two mixes on this site were posted until months after the fact. I never heard back and I assumed they had been rejected. So I'm behind the idea of more contact with the remixer.

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Level 99 Newbie

Level 99

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Posted
1) I thought we already did agree to start notifying people when their song was passed. I'm not sure if we're actually doing it now or not. But then again, a sub is never a sure-thing until it's actually on the front page. And not to sound unconcerned or anything, but if someone submits a song to OCR and then just never ever checks back, then ya know, that's just kind of weird.

I understand what you're coming from, and I'm happy to hear that the option has been discussed. Just as a small counter-point to the subject of a submitter not checking back: besides taking other possible situations into account (such as loss of internet, firewall-blocking like some universities do [i believe LuketheXJesse's school blocks the site], or any other reason why a person may not have the ability to check the site), considering the generally longer period of time it takes to go from sub to passing to posting, it may be that some individuals don't frequent the site to check up that often. There are some mixers who do not frequent the forums enough to keep checking the site and frontpage, and if someone is not that involved in the site besides submitting, I can't see how someone would feel the urge to check for their own posting more than once a month if the variable time can be anywhere from a couple months to a year or more, not counting project mixes subbed to the regular judge's panel. If someone's deeply involved in the community, they can check the frontpage more often. But, again, I see it more as a courtesy than as compensating for other situations, though bringing those few into account may add more substance to the desire to implement the process. I think Palpable summed it up nicely, too.

I've mentioned this before to Dave and Larry, but I wasn't aware that either of my first two mixes on this site were posted until months after the fact. I never heard back and I assumed they had been rejected. So I'm behind the idea of more contact with the remixer.

In my opinion and in my experience, more communication is never a bad thing unless you're overwhelming people with info. :-o

In the case of SoS, Larry had me nominate a bunch of tracks to be paneled (not all of which have gone through yet, unfortunately), and then had the ones that passed and were Direct Post material posted on and after the release date. There is no limit on how many tracks from a project can be posted, as far as I know. Basically it's however many the director chooses, how many pass the panel, and how many are chosen for Direct Post.

Alright, great to know.

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