VG Frequency

One of the more humorous aspects of being an OCR judge is the tongue-in-cheek cult of personality that revolves around the judges panel. Several days ago, Shariq “DarkeSword” Ansari started a discussion on the judges panel in cereal form. Today, we received this excellent Photoshop courtesy of OC ReMixer Marcellis “chumble spuzz” Wentz, playing on the wording of OC ReMix’s front page mission statement, as well as the site FAQ, fellow judge Jimmy “Big Giant Circles” Hinson, shitty judge fgt, and the Nice Work Guy. As far as CherriNo’s goes, I can say without a doubt that we judges live and breathe this delicious cereal.

For more on the memes of OverClocked ReMix, check out The Coop’s OCR Quirks.

Stockholm, Sweden native Mattias “Another Soundscape” Gerdt helped kick off the inaugural edition of FF-XIII.net’s FXN Final Fantasy XIII Podcast, lending his Final Fantasy VII “Fanfare” arrangement, “Too Much Fighting”, fresh off the Voices of the Lifestream album.

The Final Fantasy XIII fansite obtained permission directly from the artist to use “Too Much Fighting” as the podcast’s first song presentation. Swing by FF-XIII.net’s podcast section to check out Episode 1, and you can jump up to around the 128-minute mark to hear the Canadian crew discuss Voices of the Lifestream and Another Soundscape before closing the show out with his excellent ReMix. FF-XIII.net is hoping to feature additional OC ReMix artists for future podcasts, so keep an eye out for additional episodes as they’re released.

On the flip side of the coin from a good game with bad music comes…a bad game with good music. Kotaku’s Brian Ashcraft shed light on the new hotness in the Japanese VGM remixing scene: the soundtrack to the 1992 unreleased NES game Cheetahmen II. Ashcraft sets the scene:

Back in the early 1990’s, now defunct developer Active Enterprises manufactured 1,500 copies of its never released NES game Cheetahmen II. The dev hoped the three Cheetahmen (Apollo, Aries and Hercules) would be the company’s answer to the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They weren’t. The sequel is bug infested and almost unplayable, but thankfully, the unsold copies were found in a warehouse for us to laugh and point at. According to a GameSpot review, there are enemies that can neither be killer or avoided. However, the soundtrack is SO GREAT!! Big thing on the Japanese internet right now is remixing that musical awesomeness.

A commentor at Kotaku asked if the artists of OC ReMix knew about this yet, which I can definitely say “no” to. It’s safe to say that they will soon.

Watching the in-game footage, I definitely found myself initially asking what was so good about Cheetahmen II’s music. The game being so awful, the music doesn’t really…enhance the experience. But I was soon to be sold on it. Though all of them would get the Form Rejection Letter if I ever encountered them in the OCR submissions inbox, some of the remixes in the article’s YouTube video collection do show off the clear potential of the theme through some bootleg sound upgrade mixes. It’d be interesting to see what other capable artists in OCR and elsewhere could cook up with Cheetahmen, given some actual talent. The last video, featuring 16-bit brass samples, made me wanna see DZComposer do something way, way better.

Lemme throw you this beginnerish techno mix to illustrate the potential. On a side note, it’s funny to me that some people believe that this is all we encourage or accept at OC ReMix. All the more reason to enjoy it:

From the ROFL file over at the OverClocked ReMix forums, I can’t even make this stuff up. Yesterday, OCR forum member Raziellink shat on the European remix soundtrack, Sonic the Hedgehog (edited for clarity), after initially believing it to be a potentially good find. Know this image and protect thine ears in response:

Alright, I was in our local music store yesterday, and I was going through some bargain bins. The fact that every CD in it was priced at €1, I thought I would check it out.

What did I find? An old Sonic soundtrack CD from 1996. What the hell? Such a CD, for only €1? I checked the back, and the songs were called “Sonic Metropolis Trance Zone”, or “Entering Death Egg Zone”. Though I am not a big Sonic fan, I understood that the songs were likely to be remixes of the original songs. I picked it up, and immediately bought it. “Wow, what a cool find”, I thought to myself.

Holy shit, what was I in the wrong. It did not take me more then the first couple of seconds of the first song to get sick. And the rest of the songs were equally bad! It hardly has anything to do with the original music, and if it does, it has been replaced by crappy, NO, horrible 90’s dance/trance, of which even the AVERAGE remixer here should be ashamed of.

I understood completely why that CD had been lying there for all those years, and why I can’t find an image on Google of it. It cost me €1, but damn, I regret buying it.

Apparently, one euro buys you earhurt in the Netherlands. As for an example of some of the crap on this album, let me hook you up with a cut from this disc entitled “They Call Me Sonic”. We got an awful remix submission of this theme a few weeks ago. Once I checked out the source material, I heard the old awfulness that inspired the new awfulness.

YouTube has quite a bunch of crappy AMVs that tackle this song. Let’s hook you up with one. Don’t worry, as far as these go, this is one of the “best.” Good luck:

Submission Standards Revision

After discussion and implementation of feedback from the community, OverClocked ReMix today released revised submission standards, available at:

http://www.ocremix.org/info/Submission_Standards_and_Instructions

This revision doesn’t significantly change the content of the previous standards, but instead revises them for clarity and conciseness. We intend to translate these standards into other languages, so this was an important step to complete first, but even without the translation, it is important that this document - which is at the heart of what OCR is all about - is as clear and direct as possible.

Updated & Improved Drop-Down Menus

OCR’s drop-down DHTML navigation was updated to a more recent version, and icons were added to assist in differentiating the numerous options available. In addition, menu items were reorganized to more logically present the variety of data available on the site, while allowing for future expansion.

Quick Search Functionality Improved

The “quick search” functionality residing on the left sidebar throughout www.ocremix.org has been modified. Previously, searches for composer, game, remix, and remixer brought back a list of remixes that met each criteria. Now, if you perform a quick search on composers, you’ll get a list of composers that match your criteria, for games a list of games, remixes will provide the traditional list of mixes, etc. - the results are specific to the type of search issued. Also, searching for composer searches both the composer name field and the known aliases field, and searching for remixer searches a remixer’s pseudonym and their real name as well, when it is available.

All three of these improvements took a good deal of time and energy; more will follow.

In an almost ironic follow-up to the madfiddler plagiarism situation a few days ago, OverClocked ReMix’s latest album, the Final Fantasy VII tribute Voices of the Lifestream, was plagiarized on October 9 by 22-year-old Tijuana, Baja California resident Israel Alcántar González, otherwise known as DjNeTisra.

In an October 10 blog post (in Spanish, and has since been deleted), González claimed 13 of Voices‘ tracks as a new album called Materia 2007, complete with new album cover. In an audacious facade, González fabricated reasons for creating the songs, attributing bLiNd & Leifo’s track “Fading Entity” as being inspired by the “plight of the planet” in the face of pollution and global warming. González also claimed that other remixes would follow “with a lot of dedication,” implying plans to gradually use other arrangements stolen from the 45-track album as new releases.

A fan from the Tijuana area who personally knew González had heard of the release of Materia 2007 and passed along the news to another friend, who instantly recognized the album as being stolen from OC ReMix and immediately notified site creator David “djpretzel” Lloyd, who then threw out a forum message condemning the artistic theft.

González was confronted that night via MSN chat by album contributor Juan “Sixto Sounds” Medrano, a Texan, a Spanish speaker and one of the victims of the plagiarism. After questioning González on whether he made the tracks himself and subsequently confronting him about the theft, González quickly closed the chat session.

OC ReMix Judge and Voices contributor Larry “Liontamer” Oji then flooded DjNeTisra’s blogs and art galleries with information about the plagiarism, resulting in access to those areas promptly being removed by González. Liontamer and Sixto then registered at a local website for LAN gaming, LAN Party Tijuana (where González is an administrator) and proceeded to post information of the theft on every forum where González did not have administrative access.

Within minutes, González, who is bilingual, acknowledged his theft of Voices of the Lifestream and apologized profusely for the plagiarism, hoping to stop the confrontation:

About the Album, i feel very very sry about that. I mean, Really sry making all those fake credits about me and my music.

i will put those tracks with his orignal composers in my blog so people can see that is your own work, not mine.

So far, no acknowledgment of these actions or proper credit for the album has actually shown up on González’s blog. 60 minutes after the initial confrontation by Sixto, González finally deleted the stolen tracks, along with several folders worth of other tracks he had stolen credit for since mid-2006, including tracks from OC ReMix, VGMix and Anime Remix. Among many other artists, González had also been plagiarizing the work of Chris “goat” Gates, attempting to pass off most of goat’s discography as an album called “GOAT” in order to justify the music’s identification tags, even going so far as saying he would submit the works to both OC ReMix and VGMix in the future.

Based on further information from the Tijuana source, González claims he is a DJ and would hand out mix CDs of music he claimed as his own to girls in order to impress them, as well as frequenting Spanish anime fan forums under the DjNeTisra name to promote his stolen music. As early as 2005 González linked to OC ReMix and OCR webradio station Ormgas.com on his old blog.

***Editor’s note: We’re so tempted…

After last week’s revelation of Bungie buying itself back out from Microsoft and going independent, gamers high on the news of studios “loosening themselves from the handcuffs of monolithic corporations” were summarily deflated to hear yesterday’s announcement of Electronic Arts being poised to acquire both Pandemic Studios and BioWare in a deal potentially totalling US$825-860 million.

The hate some gamers have for EA is all too real. It’s so real, we at OverClocked ReMix were able to center our 2005 April Fool’s Day joke on it with EA ReMix, not only pretending we were bought out that day, but later claiming that EA’s legal representation had sent up a cease-and-desist letter, successfully fooling many of the people who were wise to the original joke. People were cursing EA up and down for being that evil, accepting EA’s killjoy threat of litigation as genuine without a second thought. For whatever reasons, that large logo above (we love pushing buttons) makes some people assume the worst.

As a gamer haven, it’s no surprise that OC ReMix has its own forum-goers lamenting the Pandemic/BioWare buyout. But recent Pandemic hire and senior user interface designer John “The Wingless” Burnett had his own words on the matter from the inside, defending the positives of the deal and putting much of the gamer hatred for EA into perspective:

As part of the EA deal, I’ll give you my two cents.

You know what bothers me MOST about the deal? That nobody fucking CARES that we’re (Pandemic) are even involved in the deal. Nothing crushes morale when you’re part of a $800+ million dollar deal (the biggest in industry history) and you are less than a footnote in the great shitstorm of internet reprisal.

Regardless, all of you going, oooh woe betide my beloved Mass Effect that isn’t even out. What are you upset about? Seriously, what is terrorizing you so much? That EA will somehow befoul it? How? They bought the company(s) because they are doing well by themselves. EA is in it to make money, and this particular regime of EA rule knows that you leave well enough alone, especially when it’s generating revenue. The only time they’ll step in is when we, the game developer, fail to deliver.

In essence, we get more money, more backing, probably the biggest marketing powerhouse in the industry and a lot more press.

And for those of you horrified by sequelitis… seriously, why the fuck do you care?

Three years in the industry have no made me loathe everyone who ISN’T in the industry. It’s a hell of a thing.

Will EA sabotage Saboteur? (Note, we at VG Frequency are clearly an exception to The Wingless’s loathing.)

Obviously, it remains to be seen what effects and/or potential reshufflings will ultimately result from the buyout. Yet it’s important to note that what some gamers conclude to be a tragedy, some employees on the creation side believe to be…an opportunity.

Of course, even employees have mixed feelings. As The Wingless said later in the day…

Now… if you ask me whether or not the EA acquisition is good in the short or the long term… you will get some wildly different answers from me…

…

…

…ellipses

Game composer Nicholas Varley dropped by the OverClocked ReMix forums today offering praiseworthy commentary on Prasa U.’s first OC ReMix “To the Land of the Great Mammoths”, arranging material from Microïds‘ 2002 adventure game Syberia.

Varley, who co-composed Syberia’s soundtrack with Dimitri Bodiansky, kept it short and sweet, noting that the arrangement was “A very interesting interpretation of what we tried to achieve”.

Big congratulations go out to Prasa U. for gaining recognition from an original composer of his arrangement, always a great feeling when attempting to tribute any piece of music! More tales of composer props can be found over at OC ReMix’s Industry Recognition page.

OC ReMix Announces Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream Music Video Competition

For Immediate Release
October 4, 2007
Contact: David W. Lloyd, dlloyd@ocremix.org

FAIRFAX, VA–OverClocked ReMix today announced a music video competition related to the recently released Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream project (http://ff7.ocremix.org). This is the first official competition held by OC ReMix. Partnering with Piano Squall (www.pianosquall.com), and eStarland (www.estarland.com), prizes include signed limited edition promotional copies of Voices of the Lifestream, signed copies of Piano Squall’s album GAME: Game & Anime Music Emotions, Final Fantasy VII merchandise, and OverClocked ReMix shirts & hoodies. Additional prizes may be announced during the course of the competition.

There are three different categories for music video submissions, and each category will have prizes for the winner and runner-up. Submissions will be evaluated by the OverClocked ReMix Judges Panel and djpretzel. Winners will be credited on the VotL website and have their submissions shown at Otakon and other anime and gaming conventions that OC ReMix attends. The deadline for all entries is December 14th, 2007; details and rules for each competition are below.

Prizes (as of 2007-10-03):

• Winners
  • Limited edition promotional copy of Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream
  • Signed copy of Piano Squall’s album GAME: Game & Anime Music Emotions
  • Choice of OverClocked ReMix shirt or hoodie
  • Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children action figure
  • Credit on http://ff7.ocremix.org and presentation of video on OC ReMix convention panels
• Runners-up
  • Limited edition promotional copy of Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream
  • OverClocked ReMix shirt
  • Credit on http://ff7.ocremix.org and presentation of video on OC ReMix convention panels

Final Fantasy VII Category

This contest involves creating a music video for any track from Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream using footage from Advent Children (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0385700/), Last Order (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0489134/), and/or the Final Fantasy VII, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy VII, and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII video games.

Anime Category

This contest involves creating a music video for any track from Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream using footage from any anime. However, to distinguish from the FF7 category, please do not utilize footage from Advent Children or Last Order.

Original Category

This contest involves creating a music video for any track from Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream using only footage that you yourself create. It can be live-action, 2D or 3D animation, rendered from Flash, etc., but it needs to be your own creation, and cannot incorporate substantial outside sources.

Rules

1. The deadline for all entries is December 14th, 2007.
2. All submissions are made under the terms of the OverClocked ReMix Content Policy, available at http://www.ocremix.org/info/Content_Policy. Please read it before submitting.
3. You may only enter one submission for each category.
4. In the case of submissions that involved collaboration, you must designate a single point of contact for the prizes and coordinate amongst yourselves who receives what.
5. Only one song from Voices of the Lifestream should be used per video, no other music should be present, and the video should not exceed the length of the song selected.
6. Content should generally be “PG-13″, avoiding nudity, profanity, or extreme violence.
7. Video should be in HQ AVI DivX, XvID, H264, or MPEG2 formats, at a resolution of 720×480, with a 23.97 or 24 fps (progressive) or 29.97 fps (interlaced) framerate, with uncompressed 44.1khz stereo audio. Please utilize the WAV versions of VotL tracks (available via bittorent at http://bt.ocremix.org), not the MP3s, when creating your music video(s).
8. For the FFVII and anime categories, please try to follow common Anime Music Video contest guidelines, available on the websites of most major anime conventions. We want submissions in these categories to be submitted to as many different AMV contests as possible.
9. Do not utilize low-quality footage or footage with subtitles burned-in.
10. Do not include credits, bumpers, trailers, or other material in your video, only the actual submission content.
11. You may choose to post your video(s) on YouTube, etc., before/after submission, so long as the OverClocked ReMix Content Policy is followed.

Submitting

Include the name you want the video(s) credited to, your contact information (website, email), the name of your video(s), all sources (anime, games, movies, etc.) utilized in your video(s), and any additional information you feel is relevant with your submission, whether via email or physical mail.

Email (preferred):

Send an email titled “FF7 Music Video Competition Entry” with a link to your video(s) to submissions@ocremix.org. Do NOT attempt to attach the video itself, or any form of preview. Make sure that the link still functions on Dec. 14th and for as many days after as possible if you submit before the deadline.

Physical Mail

Send a CD-R or DVD-R only (no tapes!) to:

OverClocked ReMix
PO Box 223104
Chantilly, VA 20153

Postmarked on or before the Dec. 14th deadline. All physical materials submitted to OverClocked ReMix become the property of OverClocked ReMix and will not be returned.

Updates

Updated information and answers to questions regarding this competition will be available on an announcement thread at OverClocked ReMix (http://www.ocremix.org) - please check it often as prizes may be added or rules clarified. Winners will be announced before the end of the year, with the specific date dependent on the number of submissions received.

Good luck!

OC ReMix Albums on Last.fm, FF7:VotL Updates

For Immediate Release
October 2, 2007
Contact: David W. Lloyd, dlloyd@ocremix.org

OverClocked ReMix recently made all nine of its albums available for live streaming on Last.fm (www.last.fm), a music and social networking website. The albums are listed at http://www.ocremix.org/albums/, with credits and links to their official homepages, BitTorrent downloads, and Last.fm pages.

The most recent album, Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream, was recently reviewed by SquareSound, one of the largest websites devoted to Square Enix music on the internet, at http://www.squaresound.com/reviews/ronin/ff7vol.php. Since its debut on September 14th, Voices of the Lifestream has been downloaded an estimated 70,000 times via both a BitTorrent distribution and MP3s available at the official album website, http://ff7.ocremix.org. Limited physical copies of the album made for promotional usage will be given away at the upcoming Anime USA (http://www.animeusa.org/) and MAGFest (http://magfest.org/) conventions and through online competitions that will be announced shortly.

OverClocked ReMix Albums, Newest to Oldest:

• 2007-09-14 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/final-fantasy-vii-voices-of-the-lifestream/
• 2006-11-19 - Sonic 3 & Knuckles: Project Chaos
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/sonic-3-and-knuckles-project-chaos/
• 2006-05-29 - Super Street Fighter II Turbo: Blood on the Asphalt
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/super-street-fighter-ii-turbo-blood-on-the-asphalt/
• 2006-01-03 - Chrono Trigger: Chrono Symphonic
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/chrono-trigger-chrono-symphonic/
• 2005-08-08 - DooM: The Dark Side of Phobos
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/doom-the-dark-side-of-phobos/
• 2005-06-25 - Kirby’s Adventure: Rise of the Star
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/kirbys-adventure-rise-of-the-star/
• 2005-03-09 - Sonic the Hedgehog 2: Hedgehog Heaven
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/sonic-the-hedgehog-2-hedgehog-heaven/
• 2004-09-12 - Donkey Kong Country: Kong in Concert
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/donkey-kong-country-kong-in-concert/
• 2003-09-12 - Super Metroid: Relics of the Chozo
  http://www.ocremix.org/album/super-metroid-relics-of-the-chozo/

A quick rundown of some goings on around OC ReMix for any curious on-lookers.

Reviews have been generally strong for the recent Final Fantasy VII album, Voices of the Lifestream. From this side, you generally have to have a thick skin, as a lot of the criticisms were hyperbolically brutal! Broadly covering most criticisms: Final Fantasy VII is overremixed so why not do “game X,” the album is all techno (note: it’s not), the arrangements aren’t recognizable enough (note: the source tunes are involved in the majority of every track), the arrangements are too conservative (?!?), the production was overdone, the production was cheap, Final Fantasy music shouldn’t have vocals (note: shows how little they know), video game music shouldn’t have vocals (note: shows how little they know…2), and other people liked it too much so there was too much hype. Props to everyone who enjoyed the album despite overwhelming “evidence” to the contrary. :-D

Stopped by with djpretzel over to eStarland today, who were having a huge sale at their physical location on a wide array of video games, systems and other stuff. djp hooked it up with an FC Twin (clone system makers have been bolder since Nintendo’s primary US utility patent on the NES expired in November 2005). We’ve snagged some goods for some upcoming community activities. Stay tuned and you may be a winner.

I also snagged several NES games for OCR scored by Tim Follin, whose Wikipedia page I massively updated a few days ago. They didn’t have Solstice or Silver Surfer, but I’ll be damned if I don’t get a hold of it soon. The scores [double meaning?]: Sky Shark, Kiwi Kraze, Target: Renegade, Pictionary, and Magic Johnson’s Fast Break. In short, I’m gonna be collecting them as long as I can find working copies at reasonable prices. Couldn’t find Lemmings for the PSP, but maybe I’ll luck out another day.

Speaking of eStarland, we’ve restocked the store with hoodies for all sizes, so that info should be updated on their site soon for anyone looking to fly the colors this fall and this coming winter as things proceed to get colder in the coming months. I finally snagged the large hoodie I’d paid for a while back. While I wear a medium T-shirt, I found I had to step it up a size on the hoodie or it felt too snug. Just something to keep in mind.

The site database has been getting some attention lately just to fill out some gaps and make things more accessible to our Japanese fans. Most game systems and games in the database have had Japanese names added into the database where applicable, courtesy of djpretzel. If you’re seeing a lot of “??????” and think it’s gibberish, you better install some Japanese character support.

Lastly, not counting anything coming in today, I’ve got 7 tracks left to judge before I can say that I’m caught up, not just in giving submissions their preliminary evaluations, but in judging everything that I subsequently pass along to the OCR Judges Panel. Wish me luck. Or if you’re a submitter, wish yourself luck on passing.

Quite a bit going on, with other exciting developments I’m leaving out. Once the house is in order, so-to-speak, then everyone will be let inside to take a look.

It’s hard to find people that are truly original in any scenario, even in remixing. With the release of Voices of the Lifestream, it just got a little easier locating those truly unique remixers in the jungle of greatness that is OverClocked ReMix. So here’s a quick rundown of the most surprising and most innovative remixes on VotL according to me, Another Soundscape.

First out is the constantly evolving and amazing tefnek (Jack Kirkpatrick). Jack knows synths, and Jack most certainly knows beats. He showed this very much in his first remix for OCR but it certainly reaches new heights on Voices of the Lifestream with the 4.55 long “motor crazycycle” (bonus for second-best remix title on the project, surpassed only by “Airships Make Me Happy” by Star Salzman). The remix starts off with some neat percussion, soon joined up by some truly squelchy synth FX. After the sweet breakdown at 0.42 all hell breaks loose. Tefnek isn’t really using many different instruments here, he’s just using what he’s got extremely well. The modulation is ever-changing and always interesting to listen to without ever being too much. Some might argue that this is music for the synth geek or the lord of the DAWs, but I beg to differ. This is a quality arrangement that really evolves the feel of the original source tune. The dirty feeling of riding that motorcycle through Midgar is always present. For that tefnek, I thank you.

Second on my prestigious originality list is Pot Hocket. Michael Lee came into my world with an acoustic nylon stringed guitar and loads upon loads of love. He was indeed posted on OCR even before VotL but I am certain this is the first time most of you hear him. Michael plays with an incredible feeling that can make even the most bearded lumberjack man cry. With his simple yet beautiful arrangement “Daydreaming Again” he captures my heart. I might add that I didn’t really fancy his other remix, “Sleep, My Sephy,” since it strayed a bit too far from the original in my opinion. I didn’t recognize it at all. Putting that aside though, this is a truly original remixer with a very beautiful remix. Perfect for a cozy autumn evening.

The third one has to be my favorite of them all. JigginJonT’s Hydrophone Breakdown. With a groove sent from heaven JJT decends unto the uncharted lands of progressive indie rock á la The Flaming Lips. A sweet electric piano coupled with an acoustic piano tells us what Jon’s all about. Then he took me by surprise. When the noisy but oh, so pretty bass joins up with the drums to really push that track over the top, I’m speechless. Backwards guitar, awesome keys. Then breaking it down with a sweet organ and taking it to yet another level with…a trumpet for lead? How cool is THAT! It sounds great too. A very interesting combination of instruments and arrangement ideas really sets this apart from what you’d normally hear from any artist and makes it the amazing piece that it is. When the steel stringed guitar brings it down for a while everything feels complete. Jon is really a very talented multi-instrumentalist with some great ideas. This remix is his brainchild. It’s one for the books.

Last but absolutely not least on my originality list is LuIzA. Luiza is not your average metalhead with a guitar. She’s much more. With her remix “Materia Junkie” (that I’m proud to say, I came up with the name for) she introduces one of the hottest grooves OCR has seen in a long time. Not only did she remix my two favorite songs from the Final Fantasy VII soundtrack but she did it with the coolest styles possible. Mixing the dirty sound of 90’s grunge with some ska-influenced beat is pure genious. There is no room for the fastest tapping guitar solos in the world in this track, and I must admit I’m glad. Instead Luiza captures the feel of the slums with some playing that just screams. The fact that the organ and piano is pretty sweet to only makes me more amazed. A great track from LuIzA that really gives Uematsu’s originals the respect they deserve.

This is my top 4. I still think the rest of the tracks are pretty darn good and some very original indeed (You have never heard anything like Steffan Andrews‘ hollywood-like Jenova arrangement or the superb remixes of Jovette Rivera, FFMusic Dj, djpretzel & Vigilante). As I said though, these four is MY list as the most original remixes of VotL and I also think that these are remixers that deserves a lot of credit for what they do. But it’s my opinion, you don’t have to share it. Anyway, thank you, and thank you everyone involved with the project, everyone on OCR and everyone downloading this. You rock, and roll, all day long, sweet sweet Susie.

OverClocked ReMix Releases Free Fan Tribute Album, Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream

For Immediate Release
September 14, 2007
Contact: David W. Lloyd, dlloyd@ocremix.org

FAIRFAX, VA–Today, OverClocked ReMix released its ninth album, Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream. The album, made by fans for fans, honors the recent 10-year anniversary of the Square Enix PlayStation video game Final Fantasy VII with 45 arrangements of composer Nobuo Uematsu’s original score.

Available for free download at http://ff7.ocremix.org, Voices of the Lifestream is not affiliated with or endorsed by Square Enix. More than 40 artists from the OverClocked ReMix community contributed more than three hours of music to the album, with interpretations covering a variety of genres and styles from jazz to electronica to rock to symphonic.

Voices of the Lifestream has already generated advance media and industry buzz. Music 4 Games (www.music4games.net) reviewer Jayson Napolitano called the album “one of the most impressive and encompassing listening experiences in the world of video game music.”

Tommy Tallarico, video game composer and co-creator of Video Games Live (www.videogameslive.com), said of the album: “OC ReMix has done it again! I’m always impressed with the amazing talent that comes from the OCR community. This album is a further testament to that quality and passion. It’s an honor for video game composers around the world to have their material be a part of the OCR community. This album rocks!”

A year and a half long effort that spanned six countries, Voices of the Lifestream is the largest creative project ever undertaken by OverClocked ReMix.

“We’re really proud of Voices of the Lifestream and I’m personally very grateful for the tremendous spirit of collaboration and dedication shown by the participating artists,” said album creator and director Andrew “zircon” Aversa. “Voices of the Lifestream really represents the heart of what OverClocked ReMix is all about: community and great music.”

OverClocked ReMix founder and president David “djpretzel” Lloyd agrees, adding that the project “…marks a high point in OverClocked ReMix’s history thus far, and stands as a powerful testament to video game music, Nobuo Uematsu’s enduring score, and the talent and dedication of fan ReMixers.”

OverClocked ReMix is an organization dedicated to the appreciation, preservation, and interpretation of video game music. Hundreds of free game music arrangements and a thriving community of game music fans can be found at OverClocked ReMix’s Web site, www.ocremix.org.

###

For Immediate Release
September 10th, 2007
Contact: David W. Lloyd, dlloyd@ocremix.org

Today Music 4 Games (http://www.music4games.net), the premier resource for news and reviews about Video Game Music, posted an exclusive advance review of the upcoming OverClocked ReMix album, Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream. The review is available at http://www.music4games.net/Review_Display.aspx?id=97. This review marks the first time a freely available, fan-made album of game arrangements has been evaluated alongside commercial video game soundtracks on the site.

Reviewer Jayson Napolitano writes that it “doesn’t get much better than this when it comes to arrangement albums,” calling Voices of the Lifestream “one of the most impressive and encompassing listening experiences in the world of video game music.” More information about the album, which will be released freely online this Friday, September 14th, can be found at http://ff7.ocremix.org.

Hundreds of free game music arrangements and a thriving community of game music fans can be found at OverClocked ReMix’s Web site, www.ocremix.org.

Working alongside zircon and JigginJonT, I’ve just finished my work/suggestions on trying nail down the track order for OverClocked ReMix’s latest album project arranging Final Fantasy VII, Voices of the Lifestream. So while I had already heard maybe 1/3rd of the album by being on the judges panel and giving feedback to colleagues, tonight is the first time I’ve actually heard everything.

…

…

…

THIS ALBUM IS AMAZING!

Straight up, it is a fucking amazing album, and I don’t even like Final Fantasy VII like that. Having never played it, I’ve just got no nostalgia for it. For the people that DO though, this is hopefully going to be greater than great. Forget the hyperbole of “best ever” or whatever. I’m just saying, this is a hell of a job.

A lot of us on staff are absolutely exhausted while we’re in the last stages of finalizing the album. As the project lead, zircon’s got the worst of it by far. Myself, I’m on my third day of no sleep.

But a lot of people are going to be impressed. I can’t wait for this one to drop.

zircon, fellow fellow [sic] of the Judges Panel, provided a follow-up haiku to my debut offering, as he too gives vision to the life of judging submissions:

Production is weak
Where are the high frequencies?
Next time, no FL

I figure why the hell not. Let’s not take ourselves too seriously and have a unique feature that brings out the amateur wordsmith in all of us.

If you’re a prominent member of the VGM arrangement community, gimme a good haiku about yourself or VGM or gaming or whatever’s clever, and we’ll post it. For you casual goers, leave your own haikus within the comments.

I was thinking about using an image of a cherry blossom as the calling card for these. But then I went one better, courtesy of a fansite devoted to Junya “ZUN” Ota’s doujin curtain fire shoot-’em-up Perfect Cherry Blossom.

We kick it off with me:

Larry works too hard
In 5 years, shot like old horse
Sweet release from NOs

Twas a good day in Reading this past Saturday spreading the OCR gospel at TooManyGames. Along with helping Carlson Stevens of Mad-Gear with his merchandise, djpretzel and I spent the day introducing many people to the concept of OverClocked ReMix as well as selling our own t-shirts and hoodies and catching up on our game nostalgia.

Founded and orgazined by Chuck Whitby (pictured at left), TooManyGames is retrogamer heaven. Sure, there were current games there as well, with Chuck himself rocking the hell out of Guitar Hero II with five buttons, along with tournaments for the hard-hitting Super Smash Bros. Melee and the not-as-hard-hitting but always fun Wii Sports: Bowling. But the soup of the day was old-school, with tons of classic gaming systems, games and peripherals.

Until TooManyGames, I had no conception of a Dreamcast fishing pole peripheral. But indeed, there it was. Neo-Geo MVS arcade game catridges bigger than VCR cassettes? You got it! Super Famicom and Mega-CD games? The imports flow like wine! Ataris, Commodore 64s, Intellivisions? You already know the answer! With no exaggeration, TooManyGames truly lives up to its name.

On the work side as it were, Carlson brought along a PA system that we were able to use to play OC ReMixes throughout the entire day, providing a great ambiance for the event. And with 93 hours of music to choose from, we had fun picking tracks to keep things moving as well as fielding a lot of game requests for attendees! Part of the fun was djpretzel hearing some of the older mixes and commenting on how kickass they were. With so many OC ReMixes out there today, sometimes we all need the reminder. Of note, po! & Joshua Morse’s Breath of Fire III collab “Watermelon Flava” and DHS’s Human Race mix “Bando alle Seghe.”

One great thing about selling merchandise for OCR is knowing that the goods aren’t poorly-made junk. One lucky new owner of a large hoodie was impressed by how soft the material was and how durable and comfortable the hoodie felt while wearing it. I’ve actually yet to snag mine, but I’ve already PayPal’ed the OCR account with my purchase, so I’m all set for next winter.

We definitely enjoyed the event and, besides being vendors, all three of us with Mad-Gear & OCR walked away from TooManyGames with some spirit-lifting swag for ourselves. Carlson scored a very rare NEC PC-FX for $100, while djpretzel saw a Sega Master System in good condition (with the original box, no less) and plunked down $45. Carlson hooked him up with a copy of Double Dragon for the Master System on the house, while djp also scored several additional titles including Hang-On/Safari Hunt, Great Basketball, Great Golf and Pro Wrestling.

Myself, I always regretted not buying a Sega Dreamcast back when the system was discontinued and they were priced at $50. So when I saw one on sale for $25, with two controllers even, my money was as good as gone. I can now get back to playing Capcom vs. SNK 2, Street Fighter Alpha 3 and Street Fighter III: 3rd Strike! If you’re looking for a fight in DC…

I definitely hope we at OCR can trek back up for next year. If you’re in the hunt for a good retrogaming experience, TooManyGames is a great spot for y’all in the Northeast US. Check them out, along with their list of vendors (especially Mad-Gear, the ONLY vendor inspired by Final Fight), and give them your support.

Along with our bro C of Mad-Gear LLC, djpretzel and I are literally minutes away from trucking up to Reading, PA for this year’s TooManyGames convention.

We’ll be helping C sell Mad-Gear’s eclectic game offerings, spanning many rare titles, as well as pimping out OCR t-shirts and hoodies, and spreading the good word about OverClocked ReMix. If you’re reading this and in the area, the event starts at 11AM and the admission is only $2. Hope to see you there.

Another Soundscape wrote this. Just so you know until the patching is done ;)

I’m back to once again write about more or less interesting things about OCR, VGM and everything else I can think of. This time I will tell you a story about OverClocked ReMix and a phenomenon known as “Beginners” or more often “n00bs” and how they could potentially take over the world with their ever-evolving talents.

When I first got in touch with OverClocked ReMix, I was a boy that just wanted to hear more music that was connected to what I loved. At that time, Final Fantasy ReMixes were all I ever listened to. Slowly but surely, I started to find other pieces that was highly enjoyable even thought they were NOT Final Fantasy arrangements. My eyes opened to the world of VGM arrangements. I wanted to be a part of this too.

So eventually I started trying to arrange some of that music I loved oh-so-much. Being young (it was two and a half years ago, dammit) I started playing some Zelda themes on my guitar. I wasn’t good.. at all. But that’s beside the point. The point is that I thought I was really good at that time. I hooked up with VGMix and actually got some pretty nice reviews, they made my head grow to the size of the sun, and I submitted one to OverClocked ReMix. Instant reject, if I recall correctly. I stopped remixing video game music for one and a half years after that.

And THERE folks we have it. The problem. I often hear a promising ReMixer with a WIP that is at least decent and often very creative. Then they submit it as soon as they’ve worked at the song for a week or so. It gets rejected, sometimes with a message regarding resubmission. I never see the ReMixer again. And this, my friend, is a terrible loss. You see, if the ReMixer would have stayed, maybe got some production and arrangement tips from seasoned pros (who, by the way, often are very helpful), we would have a winner.

It’s also because of this we have “judge hate.” The ReMixers are so sure they will get accepted, so sure they are amazing, that when somebody says they’re not they often go in to some kind of rage. I know I did. But in reality judges have made OverClocked ReMix a better place. Most of the time, they give constructive criticism that can actually help the ReMixer evolve.

Also, try to sort the ReMixes by year. Starting with 2007 and moving your way backwards. Do you hear the difference? OverClocked ReMix is slowly but surely going towards a better future and the quality has really improved during the years I’ve been listening. And if the ReMixers that got rejected looked back at their rejected material a couple of months after they made the song, most of them realize what was wrong with the ReMix. Then instead of sulking, use your new found skills to make an even better ReMix.

Keep evolving. Evolution got OverClocked ReMix this far, why couldn’t it get you the same distance? Everyone has to start somewhere. And believe me, #ocrwip, WIP forums, asking an OC ReMixer or even reading some online tutorials is all for the better. Some of you have the potential to be far better than everything OCR ever has seen if you just put a little effort in it.
Now go ReMix! :)

PS: I did start ReMixing again, took a lot of advice and it was worth it. Coming soon to an OverClocked ReMix front page near you.

During my periodic search for the word “Dhsu” on Google and YouTube (for reasons completely unrelated to stroking my own ego), I came across this vid by YouTuber Dekreme:

To say that I’m flattered would be an understatement. To say I’m impressed would also not be enough…even though it isn’t my most complicated arrangement, learning the whole thing by ear takes a special kind of dedication. Mad props, my man!As surprised I was by this though, I’d be lying if I said this sort of thing hasn’t happened before…

Though my name isn’t specifically mentioned in the description, the source of the arrangement is obvious. Kazamajin1, the performer in the video, asked me directly for the sheet music to “A Clockwork Vampire” and kept me personally updated on his progress in learning this piece. The culmination of his efforts was the video you now see here.

As for the implication by certain smellyjdgfgts that I might be jealous of or threatened by these rising talents, I can assure you such claims are preposterous. I am in fact quite glad that “Nayru’s Love” is fulfilling its purpose of getting people to give the Zelda Oracle games more, well…love.

If I did quit the OC ReMix judges panel, I’d hope the aftermath was exactly like this:Who even made that? :-D I’ve seen the stock image before, but not with a black guy until now.

I’ve still got lots more work to do in terms of judging submissions. As of press time, we’ve got 54 submissions still on the panel, and I’ve yet to evaluate 11 of ‘em. It was 12, but I just YESed one (t’was good).

In terms of my personal progress, where I’m at isn’t so bad, but it’s certainly time consuming going through the submissions, comparing them with the original tracks and formulating opinions. Guys like Vigilante and DarkeSword have the ability to crank out brief but accurate criticisms down to a science.

Hopefully by September 9th though (the end of The Lady’s vacation), I’ll be all caught up to present day, which will be the first time anyone’s ever done it since what I’m guessing would be the first year of the OCR’s existence. It’s like moving a mountain. And there’s nothing glamorous about moving a mountain.

July 22: It’s 2:26 AM, i.e. it’s pretty late. The current music of choice is a great new mix that has yet to be posted to OCR by DrumUltimA and his mom, who I’ve been given to go-ahead to now refer to as MomUltimA. It’s from Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, so if you’re a fan of the series, you’ll definitely have to check it out. If you’re not a fan of the series, you’ll nonetheless have to check it out. It’s that well-done. Right now, I’m sitting in the darkness of djpretzel’s living room. His dual screens are dark. zircon’s laptop on my left is off and pixietricks’s Apple laptop on my right is running a very trippy screensaver. Over in OCR-land, we’ve had a quite an eventful weekend.

At Otakon 2006 last year, I had to wait in line to get into the Baltimore Convention Center, and I spent a lot of time worrying about the potential attendance in the back of my head. Being OCR’s first year at Otakon in 2006, I wondered whether the audience of a predominantly anime-themed convention would be there for a panel on video game music. That year, I only managed to get my convention pass and make it into our panel’s room with 2 minutes to spare. As I ran as fast as I could to join the OCR staff on stage, it was only having made it 3/4ths of the way into the room that I noticed the room was packed. For a 750-seat capacity room, I’m pretty sure we had about that almost number of people. For any scattered empty seats, we had people standing or sitting on the side.

This year, I was able to preregister and get in immediately, so I spent much of the hour before our panel handing out glossy OCR fliers and plugging the pending festivities. “Video Game Music, 10 o’clock, Panel 4!” was heard by many people over and over again as they neared the escalator that would take them up to potential VGM bliss. As I went up at 9:50 (10 minutes before showtime) to refill on fliers, the room couldn’t have been more than 15% full, and I was worried that we had a complete bomb on our hands. I mean, what could have rationalized not having a full house this year compared to last year?

So I grabbed more fliers and made sure I continued pimping the panel. It was only at 9:55 when I went back up that I realized how much traffic was actually going into our room. That’s not to say the credit goes to me, but I was certainly relieved to know that we hadn’t lost our touch.

The panel itself was absolutely great. I’m not sure why the lights were low, but the atmosphere was also brighter last year. But it was the fans who came by to see us that really made everything click. The crowd was more independently enthusiastic last year, perhaps because it was our first time there, but once we got more interactive with the panel (including a Name That Tune contest), things really lit up and we connected with our audience more. Plus I’m a big fan of keeping things fun and loose in terms of presentation. A lot of panels are too dry, and I felt we initially came off that way, so cracking jokes made the time fly by and kept the presentation light.

After the formal presentation was over, we sold a lot of t-shirts and hoodies, as well as original CDs by SGX and zircon. The clothing was all non-profit and able to help pay for bandwidth costs and printing the gear in the first place. One thing we’ll definitely do next year with the presentation is upgrade things to more of a video format. We definitely don’t wanna have people staring at PowerPoint slides all day when we can do more to trick it out and give it a more entertaining feel. Feedback from OCR regulars as well as panel attendees encouraged us to make our presence felt at other fan conventions, so we’re now looking into expanding our con schedule, and hope to have some news in the next couple of months.

July 23: Briefly, besides the actual panel presentation, I had the great pleasure of meeting lots of OC ReMixers for the very first time, including old schoolers Dale North, Injury, MIDIman, and Xaleph as well as Final Fantasy Tactics/Breath of Fire V/Final Fantasy XII composer Hitoshi Sakimoto, Eminence concertmaster Hiroaki Yura and Electronic Arts’ Michael “Piano Squall” Gluck, who provided us on staff with copies of his MS benefit album GAME: Game & Anime Music Emotions. We had a great time getting OCR contributors to sign the brand new OCR guitar, part of pixietricks‘ costume as OCR-tan, our official mascot. After all was said and done, zircon and pixietricks killed time at the apartment of myself and The Lady, where Paige and I cooked a huge Italian dinner for 4 and shot the shit with them before I saw them off at Union Station that evening as they headed back to Baltimore.

As per last year, Otakon was huge success in getting the word out on OCR. As I mentioned, this year (along with the great reception last year), has motivated us even more to pursue other convention appearances and performances in the future. When we get idea of when that will be, we’ll certainly let y’all know over at the OC ReMix main page and forums. Thanks to everyone who turned out at Otakon to learn more about video game music and show their support for OCR. We look forward to seeing you next year!

Sometimes, it’s the little things that make me smile. Check out this LiveJournal-based review on OCR’s most recent project tackling Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s IceCap Zone, ReCapitated:

ReCapitated
How did I not know about this?

It’s a whole OCRemix arrangement project dedicated entirely to Sonic 3’s Ice Cap theme. It’s easily the most overmixed song in the gaming community, but that doesn’t stop anyone from putting their spin on it. This is 18 tracks of the same song, remixed by different artists. Honestly, ever since the Duck Hunt remix project, I didn’t think this kind of thing would fly anymore.

I guess why I didn’t see it is because, it’s not on the site projects forum of the web site. It’s merely the artists getting together on their own to put out this album. Is it any good? Not really. It kind of listens like a few guys just dicking around on their keyboards. Some more organized than others, but I refuse to believe it’s anywhere near a “best effort”. One even mixed Chrono Trigger’s Trial theme in the beginning and leads into some kind of weird crossover that should not be. It’s not to say that the songs aren’t worth checking out, it’s just some of them are just plain bleh. Of course, what can you expect from the community’s most single mixed song. There’s only so much you can do with it.

In any case, check out the above link and have a listen.

Only the review’s from June 28th. … Did I forget to mention this? How did he know about the Duck Hunt project, but somehow not pick up on this? :-D

Too bad he didn’t get into any specifics on the tracks. He probably thought mine was the best though, so I can understand him not wanting to tarnish the other songs in comparison. You know how it is.

Hey everyone, this is Fishy (also known as Cain irl). I would imagine only a few people know who I am, and I would wager that most of those people are on some of the ongoing OCR projects. This is because I’m what’s known as a ‘total project whore.’ The projects are probably my favourite aspect of the OCR community. It’s an astonishing feat for a large-scale album to be made and hosted totally through voluntary and unpaid contributions. A huge amount of work is put into them, and the end results are usually pretty damn cool, so I thought I would chronicle my thoughts and experiences on the projects here.

When I joined OCR mid-2006, practically the first thing I latched onto was the project thread for the Pokémon project. This was mostly because the track I ended up completing had “Reserved for awesome guitarist” in massive font written next to it and I was feeling cocky. Once I was in the forums and posting WIPs, I suddenly realized how preferable the environment was. For a new guy, it was pretty easy to be ignored in the WIPs forum, in fact the only person who replied to my craptastic first ReMix was good ol’ Geoffrey Taucer. In the project forums though, suddenly I was getting loads of useful help from some guys I was really looking up to at the time. I enjoyed being a part of a team, and getting involved and helping out so I set out in search of what would become a very long list of projects.

Recently, I started downloading many of the existing projects to check them all out. From the 60%-Protricity Relics of the Chozo, to the latest Project Chaos, they are some really great moments out there. If you haven’t downloaded some of them yet, I really do recommend it. Theres always a few songs in every style, so there really is something for everyone.

It’s easy to see what has come, but its harder to see what is coming. I’ve seen some people only just realizing some projects exist even though they’ve been running for months. The mods have been kind enough to put them all in one place though, so now it’s a bit easier, but heres the list (of the officially recognized ones anyway) with who’s running what:

Boss Themes: Crescendo to Chaos – Pi_R_[]ed
Doom 2: Delta-Q-Delta – The Orichalcon
Dragon Warrior series: Children of Erdrick – Rexy
Kirby Super Star: Milkyway Wishes – Nicholas
Mega Man 4: No title yet? – Dafydd
Pokémon: No title yet – The Damned
Radical Dreamers: Thieves of Fate – The Prophet of Mephisto
Seiken Densetsu 3: Songs of Light and Darkness – Usa
Super Dodge Ball: Around the World – Murmerli Walan
Super Mario 64: Portrait of a Plumber – POCKETMAN (and yours truly)
Tales Series: Summoning of Spirits – KyleJCrb
Tim Follin: Dirge for the Follin – Liontamer
Xenogears: Humans and Gears – Avaris
Zelda: Link’s Awakening: No title yet? – Aetherius

And they say they are too many projects going on. Sorry if I missed anyone but uh… I don’t think you can blame me. You may have noticed I left out one project in particular, but I want to talk about that now.

The humongous, and highly anticipated Final Fantasy VII project, Voices of the Lifestream. This game is the cream of the fanboy crop and the thorn in the elitist gamers side, but no one can deny its popularity or its significance, which is why it’s being run by zircon. If this project was going to be made, it had to be totally awesome to live up to its source, so who better then a judge to run it? I left this project until last because it is more or less definitely the next one to come out, and soon too. zircon will be announcing the date at Otakon, but I can tell you its not far off at all.

It’s also, interestingly enough, going to be my OCR debut. I’ve had a ReMix in the ‘to be posted’ queue for months now, but its not going to be released until the Pokémon project is released, much after the FF7 one. Funnily enough, its my highest quality ReMix so far, so when my other project tracks come out you’ll see a regression to my initial abilities, which is odd.

Lastly, I just wanted to mention two recently planned projects. The first one is Ladies of Legend of Zelda, which is DarkeSword’s quest to reveal the true pimp that is Link. The other (which was announced literally hours ago from me writing this) is a Final Fantasy VIII project proposed by kungfuchicken. I hope these both take off, as they should make great albums, but for now, I’m gonna gtfo.

Tl;dr.