Doujin VGM

For those who don't know what it is, it's basically the Japanese equivalent of what some people call "remixes," or fan-made video game music arrangements.

The Japanese VGM arrangement community is significantly different from the American one in that artists don't submit their works to central sites like OverClocked ReMix, VGMix, or Dwelling of Duels. Instead, everyone has their own site and provides their own hosting, although occasionally members of the community will come together and contribute to group projects known as "events." Due to the nature of the doujin music community, finding sites on your own is fairly cumbersome, especially if you don't understand Japanese. And even then, it takes time to separate the good from the mediocre and plain bad. Therefore, the purpose of this thread is to share and discuss your discoveries and recommendations.

If you've never even heard of any of this until now, that's fine. A few people have taken it upon themselves to highlight/catalog these sites. Here are links to some of their sites, along with a couple others to get you started. Keep in mind that most of the MP3s are packaged in LZH format, so you'll need software such as WinRAR that can extract that type of file.

Databases/Search sites
- Probably the biggest existing database of doujin sites currently.
- Devoted to Final Fantasy arrangement sites.
- Another search site, with handy drop-down boxes for various categories.
- An amazing searchable catalog of literally hundreds of doujin sites, even including American ones.
- A blog run by several members of the doujin music community. Also keeps track of sites like OCReMix and VGMix.
saladedemais - A good list of doujin albums, compiled by GFF's own niki. Down.
Otokei Doujin Database - Pretty self-explanatory.
2chan doujin CD thread - Where the cool Japanese people go to talk about the latest albums.
E-Wind - Another OCR-like arrangement site.
[Remix/Arrange] VGM Sites - A good list of both Japanese and English VGM arrangement sites. Great place to start.
niki's finds - Gotta plug a fellow doujin-lover.

Blogs
http://music.readalittle.net/ - The site that started it all for me. Currently on indefinite hiatus.
Noctilucence - A cool VGM arrangement review blog.
Disaster - A daily log of the latest doujin site updates. Probably the closest thing you'll find to a Japanese OverClocked ReMix.
Good Nintentions Gone Bad - An interesting blog devoted to VG arrangements and...porn?
Nitouhei's Blog - Another good arrangement blog. Fairly regularly updated.

Events
May 6:


March 12th saw the debut of two doujin events: Celestia Project Vol. 2 ~ Jazz Festival and the King of the Aces High Decisive Battle.

Celestia Project Vol. 2 is the followup to Celestia Project Vol. 1, which consisted completely of Square/Enix arrangements and was a massive success with over 80 submissions. Unfortunately, to say that Vol. 2 does not live up to its predecessor is more than an understatement. There were no game restrictions this time around, but all submissions were required to be in a jazz style. There was a disappointing total of 12 video game arrangements, of which roughly half are even listenable (no offense to any contributors who might be reading this). However, the project is perhaps saved by its other half: a collection of 10 original pieces also in jazz style. I personally recommend the ones by millstones, YK, and Tadasuke in particular. The theme for Vol. 3 is as yet undecided.

King of the Aces High, on the other hand, with its heavy metal/rock theme, is a real treat for any VGM fan. Organized by CROW'SCLAW's own Taka, one might compare this event to a Dwelling of Duels free month uber-competition. The Decisive Battle is the third round of the contest, and original submissions were welcomed as well this time. Coming in at 44 VG arrangements and 24 original tracks for a total of 68 submissions, KotAH rivals the success of the Celestia Project Vol. 1. In this tribute to the mighty axe, there is plenty of distortion, overdrive, and wah-wah for all. Personal highlights for me include "CHRONO TRIGGER" and "GREAT GREEN GREENS", as well submissions by B.G.M., yu-suke, and of course best of shape. Voting is being held until the 19th, although I haven't been able to determine exactly how to actually vote. Results will be announced a week later, on the 26th. Update: The winner was Lix, with his Romancing Saga Minstrel Song arrangement "Devine Devide."

February 10:


Artists:
Azu Piano
Black Magic Orchestra
Dorothy Cafe
Labyrinth of the Lily Innocence -Twin Aperture-
Last Leaf
MintJam
Mu Prism
MTR Midi
New White
Sapporo Electric Brain Room
Spelunker
S.S.H.
Symphony Zero
Venus Cord
ViViX/Godspeed

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Indeed.

Two more events to report:


Song For Rydia is, as one might guess, an event dedicated completely to Rydia's Theme. It opened on February 10th, and there are 13 tracks in all, with quality ranging from gentle to grating. Still well worth checking out for the few gems, such as the beautiful vocal rendition. There's also a demo track containing samples of each submission for those who are interested.


Super Mario Brothers 20th Anniversary Festival was released March 1st in celebration of Mario's 20th anniversary last year (though I think they should'ved waited until Mar10 ). Participation was relatively small, with a mere 5 tracks total. The arrangements are mostly decent though, and even if they're not to your taste, it won't take long to go through them all.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

New event!


Released May 6, the theme for The Revival Of Nostalgia event, or TRON for short, was music from games released in the 20th century. A slightly broad criteria perhaps, but the results were good nonetheless, with a total of 21 entries from 19 artists. The highlight for me the completely rockin' Mog arrangement by YAMAGEN. They are quickly becoming one of my favorite doujin groups.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Sorry, the only thing I can suggest is OCReMix. Japanese arrangers seem to usually ignore Nintendo games, focusing more on Square, Falcom, Shanghai Alice, etc.

Edit: Well, I found this, which is a list of websites with Zelda mixes (there are currently 174, I think). Most of them are either MIDIs or American arrangers though...I haven't found a Japanese site with Zelda arrangements yet. Still, some pretty good ones in there.

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I don't know if MintJam technically counts as amateur anymore...they've done a good number of professional/commercial works by now.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Originally Posted by SOLDIER

Do you any doujin groups or sites that focus on arrangements for anime soundtracks? I've been looking for something like that for a long time, especially any remixes of Yoko Kanno's music.

I haven't come across any Japanese sites as of yet, but I don't really actively search for them either. There is one American site called Anime Remix, which is the only dedicated site in the Western Hemisphere as far as I know. It's a bit clunky currently, but they're going through a big re-design right now, so everything should be streamlined after they release the new site.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Okay, I might have a new favorite arranger now...

Site: Sepia 'n' Gamers

34 arrangements, each from a different Famicom game, and each with a different style. One might think this diversity would have a negative impact on the arrangement quality, but every single one is brilliant. Highly, HIGHLY recommended.

Edit: Link fixed.

How ya doing, buddy?

Haha, I left out an 'l' at the end. ^_^; Try it again now.

Thanks for the link! I'm sure many of us wish we had found this service earlier at some point.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Wise fwom youw gwave! I'll update the links after I put up my writeup of the newest event. For now though, here's an x-post from ThaSauce.net.

Quote:

Hey, thought it was about time I did another one of these. This time, our featured doujin musician (or "DTMer" as they refer to them in Japan, for "Desk Top Music") is a guy who calls himself YAMAGEN.

His site, YAMAGEN'S DEVILELIET, is named after his modified Schecter Devil Elite. To get to the MP3s, ignore the Engrish and click on "MP3 DOWNLORD"[sic], then on "Arrangement" in the menu on the right. I would suggest highlights, but it'd be pointless because ALL the tracks are highlights (with the possible exception of the vocal "Silent Night" arrangement ).

Just get them all...trust me, they're worth it.


Over the past few months, YAMAGEN has quickly become one of my favorite VGM arrangers, doujin or otherwise. Specializing in Squaresoft metal arrangements complemented by orchestral strings, his work has a full and meaty quality I can only describe as a pure wall of glorious electric guitar sound.

You'd also be hard-pressed to call any of his stuff a "cover"...all of his arrangements manage to bring something new and fresh to the overcrowded Square table, and have a consistent level of excellence you don't often see in other video game arrangements. I personally think he would fit right in with the guys over at Dwelling of Duels, and it'd be awesome if he ever submitted a track.

Link - http://devileliet.gozaru.jp/

He just came out with possibly one of the most interesting arrangements of Wild Wild West I've ever heard. His music is just so visceral...even his versions of overdone stuff like "Chrono Trigger" somehow manages to get my blood pumping, even after repeated listens. So yeah, check him out, definitely one of the best VGM arrangers on the scene right now.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

There's a mirror of Song For Rydia here: http://sakika.heavy.jp/rydia/sd.html

Enjoy!

Double Post:
First post (and sig) is updated.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Well, the reason is that originally I intended to use this thread to post new finds, but at this point anything is appreciated. Thanks for the contributions, everyone.

And by the way, thanks for the compliments, StarBeamAlpha.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Wow, awesome. I wish I had the hard drive space (or even the time) to listen to all this.

Regardless, much thanks for the torrent, niki.

How ya doing, buddy?

Hey, it's been a while, but I just thought I'd let everyone know that Celestia Project Vol. 4 was released on March 25.


The theme this time was "Red and White," I'm assuming to reflect the cherry blossom season. Huge turnout this time with 87 tracks total, both original and arranged. Not surprisingly, the tracks are split into separate "red side" and "white side" song packs. The password is sakura20070325.

I haven't actually had a chance to listen to every song yet, but so far I'm a fan of yu-suke's "SNOW." His voice is a little shaky sometimes, but the melody is memorable all the same.

Also updated the first thread with some extra blogs I forgot to include.

Originally Posted by Kairi Li

Do any of the doujin sites have any Kingdom Hearts remixes?

Unfortunately, only a couple that I know of. CarboHydroM has two punk covers, of Dearly Beloved and Simple and Clean. And in case you haven't already checked OCReMix, they have two arrangements from Kingdom Hearts.

Hope that helps.

I was speaking idiomatically.

Ah, you're right, I guess I remembered it wrong. Now I kinda want to find out where I heard the one of Dearly Beloved...

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Of course.

In other news, I just found out that Sepia 'n' Gamers closed down. I can't read the message on his site, but it's definitely a great loss for the community.

FELIPE NO

Sweet, I've been wanting to listen to the first two MFTs but could never find the actual MP3 archives. Thanks for the heads up!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?