OverClocked ReMix
is a website and musical community "dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music as an art form." As the name suggests, OC Remix focuses on remixes of video game music; since 1999, it has offered a place for musicians to perfect and share their work while accumulated some
three thousand remixes which cover games on everything from the
Amiga to the Xbox. If you have a favorite genre of music — hard-rock, classical, trance/electronica, whatever — OC Remix likely has something for you. Besides hosting individual tracks, the site has also allowed artists to collaborate on remix projects, starting with the acclaimed
Super Metroid album
Relics of the Chozo in 2003.
These aren't just a few amateurs messing around with keyboards and chiptunes, by the way — some of these guys are professional musicians who offer remixes on the side; a few have gone on to do work in the video game industry after getting exposure on OC ReMix (see the Trivia page for more info). Thanks to a panel of judges that assures quality control, the majority of the music on the site can qualify as
Crowning Music of Awesome, depending on your tastes; in some cases, it can even be better than the original music that's being remixed. And it's all
absolutely free to download.
There was a general bias towards techno remixes early in the site's history, but due to advances in samples and decreasing costs for quality home studios, it has since expanded to include rock, folk, acoustic, jazz, and even orchestrated symphonic mixes as more musicians contribute to the site.
OC ReMix had a
Crowning Moment of Awesome in 2008 when several artists from the site
were tapped to handle the Remixed soundtrack for Capcom's
Super Street Fighter II Turbo HD Remix. And it
rocked.
The site has its own
YouTube channel (
subscription) for those who prefer to stream instead of download, with every track you can find on the site available.
The site celebrated its fifteen-year anniversary in December of 2014, further cementing its status as an Internet
Long Runner.
The list of recommended remixes has been moved to the
Awesome Music subpage. Please put your recommendations there.
OverClocked Tropes:
- Affectionate Parody: Has one of its own in OverLooked ReMiX. It even has a judges panel and a small but dedicated community.
- Celebrity Endorsement: Among OCR's contributors are veteran game composers George "The Fat Man" Sanger, Jeremy Soule, Alexander Brandon, David Wise, and Grant Kirkhope.
- Chiptune: This is specifically defied by the judges, who will reject any straight chiptune arrangements. However, you can get away with using 8-bit synthesizers as long as they're not the only instruments. halc in particular is known for using a chiptune + drums style he calls "9-bit".
- Contemptible Cover: The cover for their Super Dodge Ball album is a tad... risque, even if it's not the real cover.
- Defeat Means Friendship: In the Sonic Zone Remix Competition, one of the finalists collaborated with three of his defeated opponents for the last round.
- Long Runner: DJ Pretzel originally founded the site in December of 1999. By internet standards, this site is practically ancient.
- Product Placement: The site ges mentioned at least Once an Episode on the video game music podcast Nitro Game Injection, which also plays at least one OC Remix on almost every episode. Larry Oji (the site's Head Submissions Evaluator) is a co-host of the show, by the way.
- Spin-Off: OC Remix has several. There is the aforementioned OLR; ReMix:ThaSauce (in itself a Spin-Off of the video game music news site Tha Sauce, and originally began as an April Fools joke); and VGMix (now defunct), which had an open song submission system and began as a Take That! against OCR (but later reconciled). OC Remix itself is a spinoff of a webcomic called OverClocked (which was silently discontinued in 2001).
- With Lyrics: A fair amount of vocal-oriented remixes do this, in everything from Piss-Take Rap (ever wondered what it would be like to hear a cactuar or tonberry rap a few lines? Wonder no more!) to epic One Woman Wails.
