Two questions, starting with Chemical Overdose.

[Morphling]

First post ever:

I used to browse this site when I was college 4 years ago. I loved it, and would download songs from here regularly. And when I got a new PC after college I came back to this site to re-download some of the songs I fell in love with.

But MUCH to my dismay, about 80% of the songs I was looking for were gone. Most had really obscure names and are now pretty much impossible for me to find.

One of the songs that I can remember the name of is called Chemical Overdose; it was a Sonic the Hedgehog 2 remix of the Chemical Plant Zone stage.

If anyone has any information on why I can't find any of these songs I loved so dearly, or with a link to Chemical Overdose, I would greatly appreciate it.

To specify ever so slightly, I am assuming that there was some sort of copyright issue with a lot of the music on this site.

If this is the case, what precisely constituted "infringement" such that a lot of the music I remember to be removed from the site, while others that I definitely remember are still here?

And if I'm completely wrong about all of the aforementioned assumptions, please feel free to correct me

[zircon]

There has never been an issue with copyright infringement and ReMixes here. We have removed music, but only if it was an out-and-out violation of our Submission Standards. It's rare that we have to do that, but you can browse through a number of such removed mixes at the following site:

http://www.doulifee.com/Storage/OC_Removed/

I've never heard of a mix called "Chemical Overdose", though. Are you sure you got it from OC ReMix and not another site? Perhaps it was mistagged through a file-sharing network like Kazaa?

[Liontamer]

Yeah, we've never had a ReMix called "Chemical Overdose" hosted or even judged at OCR. The only info I could find that might be it was referenced in this post, a track called "Chemical Overdose" by MusicallyInspired (Brandon Blume). His contact info is on his page; feel free to try him. If that's not what you're looking for, that's about all the help I can provide.

As for why any tracks are no longer here, the complete list is here: http://www.ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog

[Nick R]

The track you're thinking of was on the old VGMix, not OCRemix, and it was by "Musically Inspired". It's still one of my favourite Sonic 2 remixes. I remember following the tune's progress through several versions, but I'm not sure if it that track ever made it beyond the "work in progress" section of the site to the main section.

As someone who has been an OCRemix user for years, but never really lurked round the forum (I only registered just now because I stumbled across this post in a search for that exact track!) I'm not really sure what the attitude to VGMix is round here. But I have to say that my pleasure in seeing the site had recently come back up quickly dropped when I saw that it was a big step backwards in terms of design (what, no "search by game" option?) and that hardly any of the mp3s on the old site had been restored (some other favourite Sonic 2 remixes which were lost include zykO's "Eggshell Bolero" and "Marblez in Your Mouf").

Not that the old VGMix was perfect - I remember them getting rid of my favourite ever GoldenEye remix (JobeGDG's "Flight from Arkangel") because it was allegedly more similar to the movies' James Bond Theme than to the original music in the game's Runway level. Not sure how involved copyright infringement was in that decision, but it always seemed a bit dubious to me since they kept other GoldenEye remixes which, like the game's music, incorporated the Bond theme to some extent...

[SLyGeN]

I have a friend whom I showed Chemical Overdose, and she loved it. She may still have a copy on her hard drive. Next time she's on, I'll ask her to upload it somewhere.

[Nohbody]

There has never been an issue with copyright infringement and ReMixes here. We have removed music, but only if it was an out-and-out violation of our Submission Standards. It's rare that we have to do that, but you can browse through a number of such removed mixes at the following site:

http://www.doulifee.com/Storage/OC_Removed/

I've never heard of a mix called "Chemical Overdose", though. Are you sure you got it from OC ReMix and not another site? Perhaps it was mistagged through a file-sharing network like Kazaa?

SWEET! Finally a link to bad tuna. Id been wondering how bad it was. Im about to find out.

[SLyGeN]

You wanted this?

http://www.speedyshare.com/323290474.html

[Morphling]

THANK YOU SO MUCH SLYGEN

THAT IS DEFINITELY THE SONG, WITHOUT QUESTION

But, it's also not exactly the version I remember. As Nick R said, it seems the song progressed through several versions. I'm not sure what version I heard back in the day, but it was not EXACTLY that one.

Though, that is without question the same song. And it was definitely made by Musically Inspired. Whether the version I heard was a "work in progress" and the one you linked was the "finished product," or vice-versa, I have no idea; nor do I have any way we can identify this, barring contacting Inspired himself.

I took the time to send him an e-mail, so if he happens to shed some light on the situation, I will pass it along.

But nonetheless, that download was more than I could have hoped for.

Brings back such memories...

The track you're thinking of was on the old VGMix, not OCRemix, and it was by "Musically Inspired". It's still one of my favourite Sonic 2 remixes. I remember following the tune's progress through several versions, but I'm not sure if it that track ever made it beyond the "work in progress" section of the site to the main section.

As someone who has been an OCRemix user for years, but never really lurked round the forum (I only registered just now because I stumbled across this post in a search for that exact track!) I'm not really sure what the attitude to VGMix is round here. But I have to say that my pleasure in seeing the site had recently come back up quickly dropped when I saw that it was a big step backwards in terms of design (what, no "search by game" option?) and that hardly any of the mp3s on the old site had been restored (some other favourite Sonic 2 remixes which were lost include zykO's "Eggshell Bolero" and "Marblez in Your Mouf").

Not that the old VGMix was perfect - I remember them getting rid of my favourite ever GoldenEye remix (JobeGDG's "Flight from Arkangel") because it was allegedly more similar to the movies' James Bond Theme than to the original music in the game's Runway level. Not sure how involved copyright infringement was in that decision, but it always seemed a bit dubious to me since they kept other GoldenEye remixes which, like the game's music, incorporated the Bond theme to some extent...

Also, with reference to Nick R's post, if anyone is able to better explain the difference between the OCRemix and the VGMix sites, I'd greatly appreciate it. I know I can't be crazy in thinking that a wealth of remixes I loved back in the 2000-2003ish era disappeared, since Nick R is alluding to the same sort of idea.

I have no idea what the "VGMix" was. I just remember coming to www.ocremix.org, searching for games I liked (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasies, Secret of Mana, ETC) and finding a lot of great remixes I loved. Now I'll search those same titles on ocremix and find SIGNIFICANTLY less hits, and I'm wondering where it all went... or if it still exists!

Does this mean that VGMix and ocremix were linked at some point? I only ever recall typing www.ocremix.org in my browser when searching for vidgame music.

As for why any tracks are no longer here, the complete list is here: http://www.ocremix.org/info/ReMix_Changelog

To further clarify (or perhaps confuse), I did not recognize a single song in the list of songs in that site. And I listened to all the removed Chrono Trigger, C.Cross, Final Fantasy, and Secret of Mana ones on that list.

[Liontamer]

I just remember coming to www.ocremix.org, searching for games I liked (Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasies, Secret of Mana, ETC) and finding a lot of great remixes I loved. Now I'll search those same titles on ocremix and find SIGNIFICANTLY less hits, and I'm wondering where it all went... or if it still exists!

That doesn't make any sense, BTW, since (aside from the remix removals I pointed out), we've only been adding more ReMixes from those game series. For years. There's literally no way we have fewer Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy or Secret of Mana mixes.

[Morphling]

I sent Musically Inspired an email; he confirmed that he did, in fact, submit Chemical Overdose to the ocremix, and that it was reviewed and rejected.

I don't see how anyone can argue with that!

[Schwaltzvald]

I sent Musically Inspired an email; he confirmed that he did, in fact, submit Chemical Overdose to the ocremix, and that it was reviewed and rejected.

I don't see how anyone can argue with that!

I can only imagine that the same song could have been submitted here under a different name, or just got lost..?

[Sinewav]

Could you give us some of the other titles you were looking for? Maybe we could hunt them down too.

As for the tale of VGMix, I believe it went something like this...

*cue dream sequence music*

VGMix is a video game remixing site originally created out of a feud between djpretzel (ocremix owner/creator) and virt (former judge). Both of them have since then made amends with each other, but the two sites continued on separately. The big difference between OC remix and VGMix, is that anyone can post a mix on vgmix where quality control is maintained with listener reviews and some kind of point system, while at OCR songs are accepted or rejected by the judges panel.

In early '06, VGMix was hacked by (ironically) another disgruntled OC Remix judge, who after leaving the panel, has been generally giving everyone in the video game music community a hard time with his abilities to bend computers to his twisted will. Virt lost a lot of songs (how many I'm not sure) and has since been working on/pretending he's working on VGMix v3 (the hacked one was VGMix v2). If you go to VgMix now, it just has VGMix X as a placeholder, and the 2.5 version of the old forums.

[souldragon777]

I have that song Chemically Inspired. I don;t know if its the final version but it has a lot more toned-down drums than the version Slygen gave a link to. IF you want the version I have I could email it or what the hell use my college webspace before they delete it. I believe I downloaded this from the wip forums and I think Musically Inspired has this on his site which I don't remember the link to (it was a long time ago). I really liked this mix as well. Does anyone remember why it was specifically rejected?

Anyway here is the link: http://www.personal.psu.edu/buz106/chemical_wip.mp3

[SLyGeN]

I'll just second the notion of contacting MusicallyInspired directly. The one I linked could very well be an older version of the latest VGMix WIP. I don't think it ever left the WIP stages, although there were many comments telling him to go and post it under the Releases.

I do recall downloading that track, and then downloading an updated version. As to which one I sent my friend (which she then uploaded for you), I do not know.

Get the author to send you his latest version in flac and pass the link on to us

[Morphling]

Sinewav, thanks for that clarification on VGMix. That actually helped me understand a bit of the history behind that site.

Still, it doesn't explain what happened to MusicallyInspired's Chemical Overdose disappearing from the ocremix, despite him giving me confirmation that he DID in fact submit it here a long time ago.

He did state that it was rejected, but I figured even rejected mixes would have some sort of searchable archival system for confirmation.

Also, I'd love to give you guys the names of other remixes that I had on my college PC, but I can't recall any others. I DO know that some I enjoyed ARE still findable on ocremix, but there are definitely others that aren't. I'll try to rack my brain for names.

Many more thanks to souldragon for posting the link of yet another version of Chemical Overdose. It's so cool to see different versions popping up in this thread of a song remix that I loved so much! I also agree, the drums are very notably toned-down when compared to the version Slygen linked.

I linked Inspired to this thread in one of the recent e-mails I sent him; hopefully he'll check it out and let us know. He did mention in the e-mail that he's learned a lot since making the mixes we're talking about, and he hopes to give Chemical Plant another go!

[MusicallyInspired]

Hey, guys.

Wow. All this love for such a horrible remix lol! Honestly I don't remember if I sent it into be judged by OCR. Actually, now that I think about it I don't think I ever did. I distinctly remember now that I was worried about sending it in because I knew it would never be accepted in its current state. I haven't touched the mix in years and ended up I think just posting it on VGMix 2 as a WIP. I don't have a lot of time anymore now that I'm married with two kids. I also had it on my game remix section on my website which I've since changed to just link to my VGMix profile. Perhaps I should just go back to creating my own game remix section again on my website.

Chemical Overdose (while fun) is very repetitive and without much variety. Basically there's an intro and then the main theme loops 3 times with a sort of guitar solo near the end of the third loop and then a short outro and nothing more. It's painful to listen to now. I've learned much since then and hopefully someday I'll be able to fix it up, but I can't promise anything. In the past months I've been only participating in the DoD contests and nothing more.

Nevertheless I'm glad this song has such a following. I also mentioned to some people who were asking that this project turned into a collaboration mega-mix with another mixer. But we've never gotten the thing off the ground yet and I don't know when it'll be finished. But Overdose may yet live in some acceptable form. We'll see...

Oh, and here's the latest version for those that want it:

MP3:

http://brandonblume.commerceculture.co.uk/new_dim/vgmixes/chemical_overdose.mp3

OGG:

http://brandonblume.commerceculture.co.uk/new_dim/vgmixes/chemical_overdose.ogg

[Sinewav]

SUCCESS!

Personally, while I agree with you about the repetitiveness, I think you were on the right track with this. I'm sure I'm not the only one who'd love to see you take another swing at Chemical Overdose with everything new you've learned in the past few years.