Commodore Remix

The following was published on the RKO mainpage earlier today. Repeated here for your enjoyment and viewing pleasure.

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RKO announces "Zero Tolerance" policy

Copenhagen, Denmark. August 8, 2003: Internationally renowned all-round nice guy Jan Lund Thomsen announced earlier today that as of immediately his musical repository of C64-related remixes, Remix:Kwed:Org (affectionately known to the general public as "RKO") will adopt a new stance on incoming material. To the majority of contributors the site will appear no different than before - but those contributors that neglect to follow the newly updated upload guidelines will find their work being rejected for publication, with an e-mail notice giving the exact details as to why the submitted file was discarded and urging them to resubmit the file. This adoption of a "Zero Tolerance" policy comes after an extended period of frustration on the site operators part. Our reporter caught up with the man of the people and friend to the stars in his summer hideaway to get the word straight from the horses mouth.

"For quite a while, a substantial number of the submitted tunes has required additional work both for myself, and the trusted associates who help run the site. It's not like anyone is asking people to do the impossible - all we request is that people stick to some rather simple guidelines; obey filename conventions, supply accurate HVSC information, and so on. Everything has been explained in detail on the upload page for ages. Heck, there's even a link to a SID search engine for thoses unfortunate enough not to have a local installation of the HVSC archive. Okay, so from now on I'm requiring people to supply 100% accurate HVSC path/filenames or face the consequences. But let's face it - pasting the filename in from SIDfind (or using SidPlay2/w's "copy filename" option) isn't exactly rocket science. Heck, most people would probably find it easier than washing your hair - and yet people do that everyday, without complaining. It's not like we're asking people to fit pineapples up their rectal tracts or anything. I have faith that this new policy will succeed in every way - similar studies prove that happier site operators tend to have a much faster turnaround than their malcontent counterparts."

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Sad, but needed apparently...

I think it's a good thing

Hi Jan,

just a question regarding the policy. Some days ago a remix of me has been rejected without any comment. Does this mean that one of the holy rules (e.g. "Don't simply SID2MIDI a tune and replace the instruments. Give the remake a soul and a life of its own.") has been violated - which is a subjective oppinion but acceptable from my side - or does this mean that a formal reason led to your decision. Since this isn't clear to me, I'm unsure for my next contributions.

Another point is, that the .mp3 version of the remix which I've submitted to your archive was encoded with the default options of LAME (Joint Stereo, dynamic bitrate) which are not played correctly with the (unfortunately widely-spreaded) M$ Media Player. The song will be stopped after 1:49 minutes, so that you possibly never heard the interesting parts A hint at your website regarding this bug could avoid some trouble... it's unclear for me if it's possible to get a second chance by submitting a version with a static bitrate setting which should run correctly on every MP3 player.

I can understand if you don't want to give a comment on this refused remix, but if it was a formal reason, this case could maybe also be interesting for other "newbies".

Best Regards, Thorsten.

Thorsten Klose wrote:Another point is, that the .mp3 version of the remix which I've submitted to your archive was encoded with the default options of LAME (Joint Stereo, dynamic bitrate) which are not played correctly with the (unfortunately widely-spreaded) M$ Media Player. The song will be stopped after 1:49 minutes, so that you possibly never heard the interesting parts

The Windows Media Player 7.0 or higher does not acquire the bitrate and duration of MP3's with a variable bitrate but it does play the MP3 in full length. Visually you don't see it play because the pointer stops at the end and doesn't progress. I own LAME default encoded MP3's and so I can not affirm your statement.

Thorsten Klose wrote:Some days ago a remix of me has been rejected without any comment. Does this mean that one of the holy rules (e.g. "Don't simply SID2MIDI a tune and replace the instruments. Give the remake a soul and a life of its own.") has been violated - which is a subjective oppinion but acceptable from my side - or does this mean that a formal reason led to your decision. Since this isn't clear to me, I'm unsure for my next contributions.

It means that the tune has been turned down, and that I don't need to give any reason for it.

However, I will say this much: your tune was turned down before the "zero tolerance" policy was enforced - so needless to say it was rejected for other reasons.

Another point is, that the .mp3 version of the remix which I've submitted to your archive was encoded with the default options of LAME (Joint Stereo, dynamic bitrate) which are not played correctly with the (unfortunately widely-spreaded) M$ Media Player.

No worries. I've never used MediaPlayer and don't plan to ever do so.

I have to ask why my symphonic Zorro remix got rejected some (a long) time ago. I thought maybe the tune was originally from the old tv-series. But why did a Zorry remix get released at RKO at the latest update?

I don't think my remix was THAT bad...

Yoshi wrote:I have to ask why my symphonic Zorro remix got rejected some (a long) time ago. I thought maybe the tune was originally from the old tv-series. But why did a Zorry remix get released at RKO at the latest update?

I don't think my remix was THAT bad...

You might have to ask, but I don't have to answer.

Oh, and don't expect replies to "Why don't you like my upload?" inquiries.

If only more people would actually read the upload guidelines... <sigh>

Maybe i can make a bouncy track with the spoken guidelines&rulez...

cheers.