User talk:Quintin3265/remixSite draft

remixSite is a website that features original and arranged music from video games. The site allows any artist to post their own music that has been used in a video game, is written with the intention of being used in a video game, or is an arrangement of another composer's work that has been featured in a video game. The title of the site originates from the third type of arranged music, which is commonly referred to as a remix.

History
The video game music culture on the Internet had its roots in the late 1990s, when the Video Game Music Archive began posting MIDI versions of video game soundtracks. Over time, the community started to use more sophisticated methods of producing music, including professional editing suites like FruityLoops and Reason. Overclocked ReMix was formed in 1999 to promote game music, and continues to accept and post submissions of video game music arrangements. A number of other websites, such as OverLooked ReMix and ThaSauce, were also formed.

Around the same time period, VGMix was also founded, but its mission differed significantly from that of Overclocked ReMix. Whereas Overclocked ReMix prejudges its submissions based upon strict criteria, VGMix allowed people to post music with no prejuding process. At VGMix, site visitors rated and reviewed songs after they were posted, and songs were allowed to remain regardless of their quality. VGMix quickly amassed one of the largest collections of game music on the Internet.

Unfortunately, however, VGMix was taken offline and completely redeveloped several times due to security concerns and hacking. The current incarnation of the site does not allow song uploading, and its registration feature is currently disabled due to bugs.

remixSite was designed to fill and improve upon the void left by the disabling of VGMix. However, its initial design incorporated several collaborative features designed to encourage community-building that were not present in VGMix. The site was announced on May 8, 2009, on the Overclocked ReMix forums, although it had been under development since January 20.

Features
remixSite differs from other video game music sites in that its songs are organized around the concept of versioning. Rather than submitting a single version of a song with that version remaining static indefinitely, remixSite allows artists to upload newer versions of songs that update older versions. Older versions of songs are still tracked in a change history, similar to a source control system, and listeners can view the progress of a song over time.

Artists may upload songs in both lossy and lossless audio formats. When MP3 files are uploaded, songs are available for listening directly on the site, through an Adobe Flash plugin. Listeners may also download the raw audio files for listening on portable devices or when offline. Songs are viewable immediately upon uploading without any prejudging process, and are not limited in length, but are capped at 100MB in filesize. Artists can track the number of views and downloads each song receives by looking at the song's details page.

remixSite is integrated with data from the Video Game Music Database. The Video Game Music Database is an organization that tracks data about all known video game music releases, both professional and amateur. When an artist submits a remix to remixSite, it is associated with influences from the Video Game Music Database. The site then retrieves and displays album information about the tracks that are the original songs for the remix, as well as the cover image of the influencing album. Classification of influences in this way allows users to easily determine all the remixes associated with any commercial song.

Registered users may also submit reviews of songs. Reviews include critiques of a song's arrangement and production, as well as suggestions for improvement in future revisions. Both anonymous and registered users may comment on reviews.

Community and Reception
remixSite hosts a growing community consisting of both average listeners and accomplished musicians. In addition to reviewing each other's songs on the site itself, remixSite has discussion forums for general discussion, which are accessible to both artists and listeners, at the Video Game Music Database's site. An IRC channel is also hosted for live discussion of game music.

Upon its initial release, reaction within the video game music community was mixed. While over 1,200 people visited the site within its first six hours online, many visitors expressed concerns about the site's visual design. Add quotes here One programmer wrote:  add quote from seifer

Other musicians and bloggers, however, were more positive about the site's debut. blog name said content. forum post here

As of August 28, 2009, remixSite's song collection has been viewed by 1,942 unique visitors (ref the front page), and its songs have been downloaded x times by unique visitors.

-link to blog that announced remixsite

ted before the visuals and gameplay. OC ReMix founder David "djpretzel" Lloyd directed the soundtrack and served as the organization's contact with Capcom "to ensure that working with a large fan community was as close as possible for Capcom to working with a single composer".

Jimenez praised HD Remix's music as "above and beyond our expectations" and OC ReMix's efforts as "one of the most rewarding aspects of working on SF HD Remix". Capcom's Vice-President of Strategic Planning & Business Development, Christian Svensson, described the soundtrack as "impactful" after guests, to whom he showed a demo of the game, praised the remixed music before any other aspect of the demo. In its review of HD Remix, gaming & entertainment website IGN commended OC ReMix's work as "a great tribute to the original soundtrack". Other entities with favorable reviews of the soundtrack included Eurogamer, GameSpot, Official Xbox Magazine, GamesRadar, 1UP.com, as well as long-time game composer "The Fat Man" George Sanger, who referred to the Capcom-OC ReMix collaboration as "Game Audio 2.0".

In addition to the albums and remixes, the OverClocked ReMix community has undertaken other projects in efforts to enhance or promote its main website. Some, such as an official Winamp skin and download manager (called "OverClocked ReCollections"), were abandoned after long periods of inactivity. Among the successful projects are Chipamp, a Winamp plugin bundle to make chiptunes and video game music sound formats more accessible, OCR Radio, an endorsed fanmade internet radio stream of OC ReMixes, and VG Frequency, a news blog covering the game music arrangement fan community.

Reception
The community has grown through word of mouth and mention of the website in several publications and on several websites. The most influential early coverage of the site came in a mid-2002 issue of Electronic Gaming Monthly. OC ReMix has since been covered in reports by sources such as G4techTV's "The Electric Playground" television show, Spin magazine, PC Gamer magazine, 1UP.com, IGN, and Nintendo Power magazine, and others.

Industry reaction
According to a 2005 interview, the organization has never received negative feedback from a game composer or game publisher, and Lloyd stated, "Like all communities surrounding fan works, we're out, first and foremost, to honor that which we love, and I think the concept and goals have been well received all around."

Several video game industry professionals have praised the OC ReMixes of their compositions, including Alexander Brandon (Tyrian/Unreal Tournament), Barry Leitch (Top Gear), Nicholas Varley (Syberia), and David Wise (Donkey Kong Country). OverClocked ReMix has also been praised for its work by several industry figures including Doom lead designer John Romero, Tommy Tallarico, "The Fat Man" George Sanger, and Jeremy Soule. Contra 4 associate producer Tomm Hulett stated he hoped the game's music, scored by Jake "virt" Kaufman, would be arranged for OC ReMix in the future.

In late 2002, the first OC ReMix by a veteran professional game composer was released, The 7th Guest "Fat Dance" by "The Fat Man" George Sanger. In early 2004, this was followed by the second ReMix of its kind, Final Fantasy VI "Squaresoft Variation" by Jeremy Soule, who dedicated the arrangement to both OC ReMix founder David W. Lloyd and Final Fantasy series composer Nobuo Uematsu. In 2005, Sanger provided another ReMix performed alongside Team Fat colleagues and game composers, Dave Govett, Joe McDermott and K. Weston Phelan, entitled Wing Commander "Wing Theme Surf." Tommy Tallarico Studios' Earthworm Jim Anthology marked the first release of OC ReMixes on a commercial video game music album in late 2006.

Several amateur artists, many directly drawn to video game music arrangement by OC ReMix, have seen their interest in video game music catalyze into professional music opportunities, including Dain "Beatdrop" Olsen (Dance Dance Revolution SuperNOVA 2), Jillian "pixietricks" Goldin (Civilization IV: Beyond the Sword) and Andrew "zircon" Aversa (Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix).

Beginning in 2008, at the invitation of Tommy Tallarico, OC ReMix promotional CDs have been given away as contest prizes at every performance of orchestral game music concert series, Video Games Live; OC ReMixes were played in the concert hall before the show at the June 29 and June 30, 2007 Kennedy Center performances in Washington, D.C.