Inspirational OC ReMixers. Ego food donations.

[Majeliss]

Merry meet my dudes. Thanksgiving is near.

I've been a fan of ocremix since early 2000s and been on and off participating in the community since probably around 2003. Good times and bad lol. And since then I have witnessed many beginners and amateurs grow into quite capable artists, musicians, sound designers, producers, composers etc... even in the within the professional gaming industry. The ocremix community has been a big part of my amateur musical training and learning, and I'm sure it has been a big part in many others.

I'd (and hopefully others) like to know who were the OCRemixers/OCR Staff that you found inspiring when you were a newbie here. I'd like to know the details of your memories, experience and feelings about being a newbie here too. 

It is my intention that I would like this thread to be an outlet for fans and matured remixers to express their thankfulness, experiences and love to the talented people who have contributed their works and support to the community. In other words ego food for the deserving contributors in the spirit of Thanksgiving. 

[AngelCityOutlaw]

NekoFrog was, until I talked to him and it turned out he was an asshole.

Never meet your heroes, people.

[Majeliss]

This can be difficult I just realize... as so many other great content I am not mentioning... but for the sake of not writing a book and listing everyone lol...The works of: 

DJPretzel, Darkesword, mp, AmIEvil, Beatdrop, BenCousins, bLiNd, Dale North, McVaffe, Disco Dan, DHS, Injury, Jivemaster, Joe Redifer, Protricity, Rellik, SirNutz, StarBlast, TheWingless.

The pieces contributed by the mentioned OCR artists, have a lot of nostalgia to me. Sometimes more positive nostalgia than the games they have remixed. I went by computermage or computersage at that time.

It's almost like each ocremixer brings back a memory of high school-as I would listen to certain artists individually, I would download first based on the remixer-then the game. I first initially discovered ocremix and used to download by game via peer2peer apps. 

I remember listening to Jivemaster, StarBlast, Prot, Darkesword, and DJP remixes as I took the school bus or walked home from school... I have a specific dorky memory of me jumping on my bed dancing like no ones watching to McVaffes happy remix of nights. I remember being so blown away hearing a female vocals -If I'm not mistaken-Injury on Protomans theme. A track I just stumbled on downloading music from peer2peer apps. 

During that time, I was also a big newbie flash animator and participant of Newgrounds… I would use TheWingless tracks a lot for my crappy animations. I remember trancing out to SirNutz early stuff... I could probably say that SirNutz was probably my first favorite "trance" or whatever genre it is-artist that I liked. I was primarily into metal at that time, and ocremix really exposed me to electronic music. 

And yeah, I have been flamed hard in this community-and to be fair-perhaps rightly so. But the negative experiences I've had in this community are infinitely less against the positive experience and help I have received from this community. And I am very thankful that such a community was born. I was on newgrounds a lot, but never really felt that genuine connection to the community. 

2 hours ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

NekoFrog was, until I talked to him and it turned out he was an asshole.

Never meet your heroes, people.

I definitely feel you on that. I've had negative social interactions with some of the remixers I have mentioned, but it doesn't change the fact that their works have had that affect. I remember Prot and StarBlast at one time busting my cringey chops. Looking back, it was fine- and perhaps my older self would have said the same things. 

It was a shame that as I grew older, my political and philosophical differences would start to show in the community-as others as well, and looking back, I believe it was a source of unfortunate unnecessary conflict. For a music community-to be divided on ideas that really didn't matter and affect our day to day lives-it was a shame imo… 

 

[AngelCityOutlaw]

1 hour ago, Majeles said:

It was a shame that as I grew older, my political and philosophical differences would start to show in the community-as others as well, and looking back, I believe it was a source of unfortunate unnecessary conflict. For a music community-to be divided on ideas that really didn't matter and affect our day to day lives-it was a shame imo… 

Eh, it's inevitable. 

Separate the art from the artist and all that jazz.

[JohnStacy]

Neblix, Bustatunez, Detective Tuesday and Sixto were the main ones that I became friends with and talked to a lot.

Wiesty was the one who welcomed me into the OC Jazz collective which made me examine my arranging style more closely.

There are plenty more, those were just the ones I interacted with the most when I became active in 2016. Although far from a musical newbie (I had already finished a music composition degree and was working toward a career as a session horn player), I was a newbie to this scene.

[Jorito]

To me Zircon, Sixto and WillRock, to name a few... I dig what they did (/do) and they inspired me to push myself and get my chops to a postable level in those early days. Even though I hardly interacted with them at the time (even though I did manage to bribe Sixto into a solo for reasons still unclear). Especially the composing streams by Zirc were great to get a glimpse of the chef in the kitchen, if you will. Also Eino Keskitalo for being open to collaborate with a newbie in the Shovel Knight team compo, where we did 2 lovely tracks and we still try and do some collabs every now and then. Sir_Nuts for being a fellow Italo/Synthwave enthusiast and the enjoyable chats and excellent mixing critiques and feedback.

And, dare I say it, the entire judges panel? While I didn’t always agree with all feedback, each time a track was reviewed I got something useful out of it and learned my strengths and weaknesses and was able to improve, It probably helped that I didn’t see them as scary (as some people seem to do) but rather as helpful critical listeners.

There are many many more, of course. Once I grew more confident and comfortable I collaborated with a lot of people from the community through the forums and Discord, and each collab was fun, interesting and a great experience. There’s too many to mention here, but know that you have my thanks for joining me on this ride and for being a cool person

[The Coop]

Void.

Now now, I know what people think when Void comes to mind. Yes, he was a liar, a music thief and he basically fucked himself right out of the remixing community back in the early 2000s. However, what his dishonest actions caused indirectly was something of a good thing in the end for me; something that I've basically run with for a long time. He shed light on games that few had heard of and ran with the facade that he was making remixes for those games. However, I chose to actually make the remixes I posted, and not plagiarize like Void did when he claimed other peoples' work as his own.

Everyone and their grandmother knows Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy, Sonic, Mario, Mega Man, Zelda, Castlevania and their brethren; games with soundtracks that many artists have remixed in dozens of genres. But what about games like Master of Monsters, Raiden Trad, Hellfire or Thunder Force IV? They didn't get much attention back then, which seemed like a real shame considering how great their music was. In fact, when I first came OCR, those four Genesis games had nothing on the site... and three of them still don't. So, I kept my attention on less-often remixed games for the most part. Yeah, I've dipped my toes into well-known franchises like Castlevania, Chrono Cross and Mario, but I've come to really like digging father down into the world of game music and pulling out games like Darius, Arcus Odyssey and Moon Patrol to focus on.

So while Void's actions were nothing to praise, it had the inadvertent affect of steering my remixing "career" in a direction that I've enjoyed.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

The technomanga "don't fuck around" guy was also pretty inspiring.

[Meteo Xavier]

I've been told I've inspired many people... to leave/quit Ocremix. I'm so anti-charismatic, I've gotten offers from several prominent astrology labs in Europe to study my personality as a potential gravity field.

Oh well.

[JohnStacy]

1 hour ago, Meteo Xavier said:

I've been told I've inspired many people... to leave/quit Ocremix. I'm so anti-charismatic, I've gotten offers from several prominent astrology labs in Europe to study my personality as a potential gravity field.

Oh well.

I think you're pretty neat. You released a soundtrack a while ago that I still listen to.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

21 hours ago, The Coop said:

So while Void's actions were nothing to praise, it had the inadvertent affect of steering my remixing "career" in a direction that I've enjoyed.

Not familiar with this story. Could you enlighten me?

 

@kaijin was definitely the biggest one for me. His stuff was what made me want to become a remixer, and learn production beyond just midi arrangement.

@Ailsean gets an honorable mention; when I started playing electric guitar, I spent a LOT of time listening to his stuff and trying to learn it. Not so much the crazy solos, but the general lead work, how he'd use pitch bends and pinch harmonics, that sort of stuff. To this day, whenever I am testing out a new distortion pedal or a new electric guitar, the first thing I play on it is the chorus of his arrangement of Singing of the Gentle Wind from One Up Studios' Mitsuda Tribute album.

[The Coop]

6 hours ago, Geoffrey Taucer said:

Not familiar with this story. Could you enlighten me?

@kaijin@Ailsean

On VGMix quite a few years ago, a remixer named Void was posting what he passed off as remixes that he'd done. Some where longer and better than others, but there were a number that were based on songs from games that very few people had heard of (he posted a couple that were from Golden Axe or Panzer Dragoon Saga as well, I believe). He even got a fair bit of praise for what many thought was his work. However, after a couple of years, someone found one of "his" remixes and pointed out that it was actually done by someone else (I want to say it was on a Japanese MIDI album or something like that, but I'm not sure... it's been a while to say the least). It didn't take long before more of "his" songs were discovered to be plagiarized and he was pretty much shown the door on the website.

So the TL;RD is that he was posting the published remixes from obscure Japanese game OSTs as his own and got caught.

[ad.mixx]

@Fishyhas probably inspired me more than any other aritst on this website. I don't really have much more to add to that, his remixes "Echoes", "Beneath the Canopy", and "Estharian Airs" are some of the best remixes on this website without a doubt. Really influenced a lot of my earlier remixing attempts and styles. I listen to a bunch of the artists from here but that's one that stands out.

 

Oh yeah, @TGH because he's a badass. Good speedrunner too.

[kaijin]

On 11/21/2018 at 6:17 PM, Geoffrey Taucer said:

Not familiar with this story. Could you enlighten me?

 

@kaijin was definitely the biggest one for me. His stuff was what made me want to become a remixer, and learn production beyond just midi arrangement.

@Ailsean gets an honorable mention; when I started playing electric guitar, I spent a LOT of time listening to his stuff and trying to learn it. Not so much the crazy solos, but the general lead work, how he'd use pitch bends and pinch harmonics, that sort of stuff. To this day, whenever I am testing out a new distortion pedal or a new electric guitar, the first thing I play on it is the chorus of his arrangement of Singing of the Gentle Wind from One Up Studios' Mitsuda Tribute album.

 

Still touched. I sincerely love your arrangements. Please keep making music.

[Meteo Xavier]

Sweet lord, Kaijin, when's the last time we saw you here?

[Geoffrey Taucer]

13 hours ago, kaijin said:

 

Still touched. I sincerely love your arrangements. Please keep making music.

I definitely want to; I just don't have anywhere to set up for recording right now.

[eggsngaming]

Just off the top of my head, huge thanks to Joshua Morse, WillRock, zircon & Jill Aversa, Nostalvania, DDRKirby, Big Giant Circles, Flexstyle, Blind, posu yan, list goes on and on, for inspiring me to get into music production when I have time these days. If any of y'all see this, thank you so much.

[Eino Keskitalo]

I like to mention @AeroZ for both the chippy, lofi elements of his arrangements that have been directly inspiring for my own arrangements, but also the amazing cello stuff, 7th Saga album in particular. Shnabubula has been an inspiration for many things, amazing musicianship, improvisational capability (showcased through his VGM Cast streams) and for me as a ReMixer, in particular the creative arranging. Same goes for @djpretzel, his arranging unsurprisingly embodies the interpretational aspect of OCR approach, on top of that I appreciate him showing his love for Sega and also doing less-arranged games (like everyone I'm mentioning).

Additionally I've been incredibly inspired by my regular collaboration partners @Jorito and @Tuberz McGee. Additional shout-outs to all the album directors and also compo-organizers such as @Bundeslang, @HoboKa, @DarkeSword, @FenixDown and Brandon Strader - I very rarely finish any tracks that don't have competition or album deadlines at last at one point, and/or collaborators to actively work with. So in a very direct way these people are an inspiration to the tracks I ever end up finishing.

[WillRock]

You guys who named me as inspirational <3

Ok when it comes to remixers that inspired me from OCR there are 3 people who instantly pop in my head - @Sixto, @bLiNd and @zircon. Sure there are other remixers I could probably name but they were some of the most striking remixers I found here from an early age and helped shape my own style. 

Also, this is going to sound super corny but you can't have a question like this and not mention @djpretzel - Sometimes I don't think people give him enough credit, creating this site - When I joined in what? 2008? The site had already been going for 9 years, from what I have been told, the site had a HUGE surge of popularity and influence long before I even knew the site existed - when I joined it was pretty much the only place where there appeared to be a community based on this stuff, and from what I can tell, its one of the first of its type. How many of us would be where we are if djpretzel hadn't founded OCR? Honestly? What is the video game remix scene without him? If thats not inspirational, I don't know what is.

[timaeus222]

I think when I first came here, it took me time to come to appreciate the tremendous amount of help you guys give (call it early ignorance), but looking back, I think I was most inspired by @zircon, @WillRock, @Chimpazilla, @Gario, @djpretzel, and of course @Liontamer, who could forget him?

zircon is kind of an obvious one --- I learned most of what I know in music from studying his, from watching his streams / remix walkthroughs, etc. It has also been a pleasure and a joy to do sound design and to test Super Audio Cart (SAC) and SAC PC.

I've generally found Willrock to be someone who really made an identity for himself; he isn't afraid to express himself, and he makes music that is clearly identifiable as his own.

Chimpazilla has been a good influence on me from nearly the start, and inspired me to realize that collaboration opens you up to new ideas and really supports you in areas you still need to work on.

Gario is like a super-mod, who is also very empathetic, and eloquent. He inspires me to express my feedback in both clear-cut and respectful ways, and in essence it's great for my character.

djpretzel has a great sense of humor and writes excellent ReMix writeups, and does plenty of behind-the-scenes administration, advertisement, and legal stuff for the website, youtube, twitter, etc. while not necessarily getting the thanks he deserves. Without djp, we wouldn't even be here now, talking about... each other. Woah.

Liontamer is honest, direct, and pleasantly sarcastic.  If he had to, he could probably carry the legacy of OCR on his shoulders, and he really embodies the spirit of OCR, IMO. He's also damn funny.

-----

If I forget anyone, it's not a knock on you, by the way.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

7 hours ago, timaeus222 said:

Liontamer is honest

I'll bet you he's willing to lie for McRibs

[Mak Eightman]

Joined OCR thanks to @AMT He was Death by Spoon back then, if i recall correct.

Inspired by @Sixto @SnappleMan and @goat at first.

Then @Rozovian grabbed me and threw to music. Many thanks to him.

@Clembecame a music friend. I remember the time when both of us was trying to be posted. Even tried to collab. But then he changed the course of his music..

@AngelCityOutlaw and @Garpocalypse

This two guys was a fun company.

@Liontamer always tried to believe in me

 @djpretzel His reviews and comments.. just thank you

Thank you all OCR people

[Chernabogue]

Too many awesome people to tag. Y'all great <3

[Wiesty]

Oh boy, some oldies.....

Shnabubula

Dhsu

DrumUltima

XPRTNovice

 

[Cyril the Wolf]

@OceansAndrew, - helped me out a lot during the initial project I was a part of for Final Fantasy 4

@audio fidelity - Same as above - also a fellow bass player. Gave me a venue to screm on which drove me down a path to adding vocals to everything I do

PuD is tagged below cuz this posting thing messed up on me- fellow bass player - inflamed me with passion to try to improve my craft

Shnabubula taught me a lot of things about music and tbh a few things about the industry in a way.

Protricity - for giving me my current handle indirectly.

@DrumUltimAcuz he's a chill dude.

@prophetik music cuz he taught me a thing or two about not being too full of myself.

BustaTunez cuz he's pretty legit tbh.This tagging system has screwed me up

Probably others too but I'm bad with names. Thanks for being cool.

@bustatunez

  @Prince uf Darkness