OverClocked ReMix

OverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a

The founder of OverClocked ReMix and its parent company OverClocked ReMix, LLC is David W. Lloyd (a.k.a. djpretzel), who coined the word "ReMix" to refer to distinctive and interpretive arrangements, as opposed to a remix which typically involves less transformative alterations to the original works. Lloyd originally curated all of the submissions to the site, but since 2002 submissions are judged by a panel of community members for quality and originality. The site has been positively received by both critics and video game industry professionals, and several video game composers have submitted their own ReMixes. Multiple OC ReMix contributors have gone on to have professional video game composition careers.

History

OverClocked ReMix was founded by David W. Lloyd, using the

The website's format was derived from Commodore 64 arrangement website C64Audio.com, then a host for many fan arrangements;^[6] Lloyd chose to have OverClocked ReMix expand the focus to all games regardless of game system.^[7][5] Originally coded in basic HTML and sporting an orange color scheme, and located at remix.overclocked.org, a subdomain of Lloyd's webcomic, the site underwent several visual redesigns before moving to www.ocremix.org in July 2003 and its present design in 2004.^[8][9][10] Initially the site was hosted by ZTNet and run directly by Lloyd; in 2006, it became self-sufficient and moved to dedicated hosting, and, in 2007, Lloyd registered OverClocked ReMix as a limited liability company.^[8]

At its founding, music submissions to the site were evaluated for inclusion solely by Lloyd, who required that all arrangements both meet his quality bar and also feature an original interpretation of the music, rather than minimally changing the original track.^[2][11] In early 2002, however, to better accommodate the volume of music submissions and improve selection consistency, Lloyd instituted a panel of judges, composed of accomplished artists and contributors to the community, to assist him in music selection, though he still provided an initial evaluation of all submissions for meeting a minimum quality bar.^[2][8] Judge Larry Oji (a.k.a. Liontamer) became head submissions evaluator for the organization in June 2006, taking over the majority of Lloyd's evaluation work and freeing him to focus on the site and company itself.^[11]

Main features

OverClocked ReMix's primary focus is hosting and distributing video game music arrangements. The site hosts more than 4,000 "ReMixes" from a variety of

ReMixes are added to the site after being submitted by their creators and passed by a panel of judges based on standards and guidelines encouraging arrangement creativity and high production quality.[11] Since the site's founding, more than 150 works have been removed after initially being admitted, generally due to stricter enforcement of the site's standards after the admission of the work.^[14] To meet the inclusion standards, works must demonstrate significant arrangement work rather than being a "MIDI rip", a term used for works which take a transcription of the source material and make only minor modifications to it. Other barriers to inclusion include stolen or unoriginal recordings, cover versions that change the performance but not the music itself, arrangements which differ so far from the source material as to be unrecognizable, and obvious sub-par execution.^[3][14] The site also maintains a database of the skills of members of its community to encourage artist collaboration.^[15] Lloyd and other staff also conduct interviews with prolific ReMixers, video game music composers, and celebrities about video game music creation.^[16]

Albums

In addition to the individual ReMixes, OC ReMix also hosts albums of arrangements and original music. These albums are typically created as collaborations among groups of ReMixers; OC ReMix has released over 70 albums. The majority of these are albums of arrangements, though it also hosts and distributes original soundtrack albums for

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."[3] Several professional video game composers have positively commented about OC ReMix, such as Tommy Tallarico, Jeremy Soule, George "The Fat Man" Sanger, Hiroki Kikuta, Alexander Brandon, Barry Leitch, Nicholas Varley, and David Wise.^[3][40] OverClocked ReMix has also been praised for its work by non-composer industry figures including Doom lead designer John Romero and Contra 4 associate producer Tomm Hulett, who stated he hoped the game's music, scored by Jake "virt" Kaufman, would be arranged for OC ReMix in the future.^[40][41]

In addition to praising OC ReMix and the works on it, some professional game composers have submitted their own ReMixes to the site. The first was in late 2002 by George Sanger, "Fat Dance", remixing his own composition from