So what is VGDJ all about?
VGDJ is the official podcast of OverClocked ReMix, a community dedicated to the appreciation and reinterpretation of video game music! The website, founded by the fabulous djpretzel in late 1999, features the musical talents of over 450 remixers and 1500 songs, and is ever growing. Submitted remixes are pre-screened by the Pretz, and often uploaded to a panel of judges for further evaluation. With every new track that makes it to the site, DJP posts a special writeup describing the mix, often quoting a passage from the remixer and/or judges expressing their thoughts. Anyone with an account on the site is not only able, but encouraged to write their own reviews, and several other forums exist for the purposes of general discussion, technical assistance, remixing tips, works in progress, and site projects. The result is a dynamic community of musicians and fans alike, who often enjoy organzing online gaming tournaments, friendly remixing competitions, and real life meetups!
Bringing you the world of video game music remixes, VGDJ exists not only to keep members up to date on new remixes and community happenings, but to introduce new listeners to the awesomeness that is OCR! The show, cohosted by community representatives zircon and pixietricks, features several weekly sections: ReMix Reviews, The Rama Report, Compo Report, Meetup Report, and Russian ReMix Roulette. With new episode releases every Monday, we do our best to keep you posted- and entertained! VGDJ would not be where it is today if it weren't for all our awesome fan support, so please feel free to give us your feedback, and don't forget to vote for us on podcast alley each month!
Pixietricks, Cohost
Jill Goldin, a.k.a. "pixietricks," hails from good old Boston, Mass. Her musical pursuits began at the ripe age of six when her first track was released: the infamous Rainforest Song. Recorded in her father's basement studio, the song was "mysteriously" discovered and selected to be played during the closing credits of an Omni Theater film at Boston's Museum of Science. Twelve years later, pixietricks began her undergraduate opera studies at Peabody Conservatory of Music. She joined the remixing scene in spring 2005, and has since been working on some collabs, projects, solo stuff, and (of course) VGDJ. Other interests include anime, theater, foreign languages, Star Trek: TNG, photography, and the Boston Red Sox! [website, remixes]
Zircon, Cohost
Andrew Aversa, a.k.a. "zircon," was born and raised in Pleasantville, New York. Although spending a great deal of time practicing the piano, playing in jazz groups, and accompanying singers and choirs, it was not until he experimented with his first audio editing program that he knew writing music was what he truly wanted to do. At sixteen, he completed a small commercial computer game soundtrack for an independent developer, and for the first time was paid for his work. From that point on, he was more inspired than ever, and even published an original, full-length CD! Currently a music major at Drexel University, zircon is also a remixer, forums moderator, and OCR judge! [website, remixes]
Cyan_Ide, The Compo Report
The enigmatic Cyan_Ide, also sometimes known as Chad Behnke, hails from lands to the north...namely, Wisconsin. He attends the University of Wisconsin-Stout, (located in Menomonie, tricky enough), and is a twenty-year-old sophomore majoring in multimedia design. While said calling consumes most of his free moments, he also enjoys drawing in Adobe Illustrator and just chilling, probably catching up on lost sleep due to procrastinating on on one art project or another. Cyan_Ide's role on VGDJ is to give us the weekly low down on all the remixing competitions going on at OverClocked ReMix, epic as they are. Oh yeah, and he is also the proud author of our awesome new site design! [website]
DrumUltimA, The Meetup Report
Doug Perry, a.k.a. "DrumUltimA," "Dougla," "Dagura," or "Daggu," hails from West Hartford, Conneticut and currently studies percussion at the Peabody Conservatory of Music- only two doors away from pixietricks! Although he was raised in a very musical household, it was not until nine years of age that he picked up his first drumstick. Doug is a double major in jazz and classical performance specializing in improvization, but has always been a video game music afficionado, and enjoys a great deal of VG music in his repetoire. The official OCR meetup reporter for VGDJ, he keeps us posted on the locations, dates, guestlists, and pictures/videos released for community events. [website]
SgtRama, The Rama Report
Douglas Arley, a.k.a. "SgtRama," "Ramaniscence," or just plain "Rama," is a resident of Cooper City, Florida. Sometime in 2000, while mass-downloading video game music via Napster, he came across one of djpretzel's oldschool remixes, and after downloading and burning a number of songs with "OCReMix" in the title, a friend finally pointed him to the site. Since his first and only remix, which was posted back in 2002, Rama has had little success getting another song past the judges, but concentrates on other ways to contribute to the community. As co-creator of scene portal ThaSauce, he sends us a weekly (ha!) report with news spanning across the video game music community as a whole.
[website, remixes]