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

I haven't heard much doujin VGM, but I <3 best of shape's work on Noise Mutation -SaGa Frontier Remix-. Great techno (and some rock) mixes of Ito and Hamauzu's work.

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.

I thought Doujin VGM meant VGM made for Doujin games.

Danm was I off.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

I haven't heard much doujin VGM, but I <3 best of shape's work on Noise Mutation -SaGa Frontier Remix-. Great techno (and some rock) mixes of Ito and Hamauzu's work.

I totally concur. I own the Noise Mutation CD, and noticed that there are some other SaGa arrange albums listed on the Obi. If anyone has any information regarding how I could obtain these albums, pleaaase let me know. They seem way out of print, and for a doujin CD, that = impossible to find ever.

I remember some time ago (as in like last year), there was supposed to be some kinda game arrange radio show, and somebody (perhaps niki?) was supposed to have recorded it. One of the participants was Saitama Saisyu Heiki (S.S.H) who you probably already know. Anyone got any info on this?

In other news, fans of S.S.H might want to check out a new free mp3 at his site.

http://www.ssh.ne.jp/mp3/mer.zip

New SSH song is rather badass. Sounds like he went a step up with the synth he was using, drums sound better than before. Is there a tinge of live guitar in this one too? I always wanted to know what kind of synth/programs he used. He's really all over the place in the doujin scene. (and with over a gig of mp3s of just HIS stuff)

Originally Posted by Servilonus

New SSH song is rather badass. Sounds like he went a step up with the synth he was using, drums sound better than before. Is there a tinge of live guitar in this one too? I always wanted to know what kind of synth/programs he used. He's really all over the place in the doujin scene. (and with over a gig of mp3s of just HIS stuff)

I liked "Identity" more, but yeah, "Merciless Goddess"'s technical quality does sound better.

Might this answer your question (regarding sound equipment/progs)? http://www.ssh.ne.jp/file/profile.htm

I didn't really like Identity too much, it was just a long version of basically any other song I've heard from him. Some of his stuff can get kind of generic, due to the redundancies of the synth I suppose. For stuff like Identity, I like his involvement in Jesus is Dead better (or what I assume is his involvement) in songs like Level 7.

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.

Dhsu, seems like you know a lot of VGM doujin. Do you know any place where I could get Zelda VGM Doujin? (or nintendo related)

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.

Ahhhh I'm glad I'm not alone in my love for Doujin music! Those links for the events where awesome by the way (Celestia, etc.). Should add more days worth of music to my collection >.>

Here's another good site for doujin vgm compilation (updated daily):
http://pine.zero.ad.jp/disaster/
And the awesomesauce and origin (?) of them all:
www.muzie.co.jp
My all time favorite amateur (doujin) composers has to be Mint Jam. Their stuff is strictly O.O guitar/rock:
http://www.mintjam.net/index2.htm

Now here is my dilema. I'm not sure how many of you live the US (most I'm sure), but it is hella and I mean HELLA difficult to come by doujin vgm arrange cd's (as you may/may not know). 99% of the websites that do sell them (and are of course based out of Japan) do not do international orders. The most popular and widely used ones include: melonbooks.co.jp, toaroana.jp. akiboo.com, and w-canvas.com. (Please be advised that these are doujin everything retailers and you must be 18+ to enter the websites due to adult content). Not only that but I couldn't place an order there if my life depended on it (my Japanese is ftl). Unfortunately you won't find any doujin cd's at any US import retailers (gamemusic.com, amazon.com, etc.), which is a crying shame.

So I've been trying to get my hands on this relatively new gem http://soundonline.info/blaze/#02 for the last couple months with no success ;_; . I'm a big soundonline fan (RO remix's ftw), and even though the CD is for sale in Japan, I have no way of acquiring it >_< . So if you read this far, is anyone having the same problem and/or have any advice? tyty

Just a headup, I've started uploading doujin albums in lossless on gftracker, 5 torrents on there right now. I'm also doing requests for whatever I have, the list is on there as well.

Originally Posted by Skies Above

My all time favorite amateur (doujin) composers has to be Mint Jam. Their stuff is strictly O.O guitar/rock:
http://www.mintjam.net/index2.htm

This is the greatest recommendation I've got in months. Thanks a lot skies, the band is beyond greatness.

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

Damn dhsu. You're solely responsible because thread makes me attracted VGM doujinshi. :lolsign: After being addicted by VGM It seems I will become VGM doujin yankee in several weeks later.

Where should I begin to hunt then? Any suggestion? I have downloaded couple mp3s from the site you mentioned before, but I dont know where I should go for the next stop.