To mark the milestone, I thought a special spotlight post might be in order about a category of music that was referenced only once here before and then merely indirectly, but which is very much related to a streak running through many of my own posts here: video game remixes and the most renowned place on the Web you can find them.
There's certainly plenty to say about the subject, but somehow I don't think erecting another wordwall would be a good match for the celebratory mood. Instead of that, both as a (much needed) exercise in terseness for me (and a gesture of mercy to the rest of you
), but also for the purpose of presenting a tiny, but indicative anthology of the broad range of good content to be found on this site through ten examples across years, games, remixers and so on, this post will alternate between tweet-length paragraphs on different key facets of it and VGM remixes below each in order to make the whole thing better flowing or more digestible. Given that it's been around for almost 20 years, it's unlikely that you won't have heard of it, even in passing, but in the unlikely case that you haven't, you're in for a treat.With all that now said, let's (finally) talk about the online mecca of video game remixes, OverClocked ReMix.
OverClocked ReMix (OCReMix or OCR for short) launched in 1999 as a place to host good video game remixes (VGRs) and so spread appreciation for the art of music in videogames. While it wasn't the only site offering VGRs then, it quickly rose to prominence due to a few key choices its founder, David Lloyd, aka djpretzel/djp, made.
[2002] Estradasphere - "SuperBuckJazz" (Super Mario Bros. 2) [jazz, ensemble, recorded performance]
Unlike others, OCR's frontpage wouldn't just host anything offered to it. Musically educated himself, djp found it crucial to have some quality standards (re: composition/production, adherence to source material, etc.) and only let in remixes that passed those. As those standards grew over time, so did OCR's community n' popularity.
[2003] Dhsu - "A Clockwork Vampire" (Castlevania 3) [piano solo, recorded performance]
With 100's of remixes already up, djp turned to OCR"s community for help managing the growing workload. In its forums workshop, more experienced members were already helping newer fans learn how to compose/produce/remix via PC software; some got picked to evaluate submitted VGRs as OCR's new judges panel.
[2003] DarkeSword - "Ancient Hero" (The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker) [orchestral arrangement]
With a clear n' shared grasp of good VGR standards, a 1st wave of fans-turned-OCR-"sophomores" was soon cranking out even better mixes, making the site n' themselves popular. Some got so good their original work appeared in "proper" TV/movie productions, or became VGM composers themselves. Proud OCR alumni now abound.
[2005] Beatdrop - "Catapult" (Sonic & Knuckles) [EDM, crunchy beats electro]
Pushing past 1000 VGRs led OCR to adopt torrents as a distribution alternative to http hosting. Meanwhile, remixer collabs also birthed the concept of jointly made albums centered around a game/franchise anniversary, a beloved dev or other theme. Today, OCR offers close to 4000 remixes & over 100 albums, all free to enjoy.
[2007] tefnek, zircon - "Above Reason" (Streets of Rage 2) [dirty electrosynth, splash o' funk]
A few years into Web 2.0, OCR had achieved mainstream status across gaming spheres/forums, in UGC/YT videos and elsewhere. Web radios, podcasts, Twitch streams were places where VGRs or remixing in general got discussed or featured routinely. OCR's also had regular booth presence in PAX, MAGFest and other conventions, too.
[2008] AeroZ - "Turning Terrors" (Super Mario World) [spooky, HiFi/LoFi modulated, electro]
OCR achieved legitimacy with composers and publishers too. The site avoided litigation mishaps, got mechanical licenses where needed to cover non-profit publishing of copyrighted works' derivatives. A high point was CAPCOM licensing OCR to make an official SSF2 Turbo HD launch remix album. Another was the OCR02000 story of this remix:
[2010] David Wise feat. Grant Kirkhope & Robin Beanland - "Re-Skewed" (Donkey Kong Country 2) [saxy, shreddy rock, recorded performances]
As mentioned, OCR isn't the only site dedicated to VGRs; Remix64/RKO, DoD and the ghost of VGMix deserve mention before turning to YT/Soundcloud n' such. By sheer volume of press coverage, clout with VGM composers & ubiquity of its content used elsewhere, OCRs' head n' shoulders above the rest, and, as such, the place to start for VGR novices and popular games.
[2011] Big Giant Circles - "The Bounty of a Brain" (Super Metroid) [cinematic/anthem, orchestral rock production, strings]
OCR's probably also had an impact on CEONSS' content management n' staff development too! Standards-based evaluation, staffing with community members who distinguished themselves and teaching the content-making craft to newer creators were IMO sensible n' relevant enough norms to UT's ecosystem to try n' adapt to the then-nascent server
.[2012] Flexstyle - "Thump Brothers" (Donkey Kong Country 3) [DnB, recorded glitch/beatboxing performance, chiptune-ish synth electro]
To keep the scope of VGR I'd get into manageable, very early in my VGM/VGR collecting days I decided to only go after music from "relevant" games, i.e. ones I'd played or seen YT longplays of. Since 2003 I've heard over 800 of OCR's 3700 VGRs and kept ~90, only a fraction of the site's variety. Still, a Representative Top 10 was so hard to do, a whole Backup 10 was left out. If anyone's interested, I can post that bundle down the road.
[2014] WillRock, Sixto - "Cowabunga!" (TMNT IV: Turtles in Time) [shreddy prog rock, recorded performance, synth]
Well, that took some effort to assemble, but, hopefully, it's a decent showcase of what's on offer and a good place to start scratching, if this post gave you a VGR itch
. The site's pretty well made in terms of the ability to search for a particular game, composer or remixer, and genre tags are being added to older tracks too these days, so finding more stuff based on your tastes shouldn't be an issue. Btw, if anyone's looking for more/other facts about OCR, you can always try their FAQ.Anyway, happy listening, and here's to sharing even more great finds that'll carry us to the next milestone for the CEONSS MusicBox!
