OCR00897 - Ogre Battle 'Zenobia's Grave (A Champion Has Risen)'

[djpretzel]

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

[Kemusabi]

One of my favorite remixes on the whole site now. Right up my alley, thanks DJ K-Wix & Israfel!

[Drake]

I do a lot of RPing over at Videoland MUSH as Destin Faroda (that's the canonised name of the Male Lord, for those that aren't aware), and as his player, I feel that I must make this statement.

You. Rock.

I like the drama that practically oozes from this piece, start to finish. To me, it captures the spirit of the game perfectly. The opening builds nicely, very ominous, very dark. You can almost see the outnumbered rebels advancing across the plains of Sharom. At about 1:31, something new starts to emerge, hope. 'Round about 3:00 Sounds like a good spot for a heroic charge....or maybe a dual. I only have one problem with it and that would be the ending. It's tad on the anticlimatic side, esecially after all that lovely development early on in the piece.

Looks like Destin's got a new themesong at Videolan MUSH. I send you many thanks, and may Danika be with you.

[sgx]

I'm much better at commenting on electronic stuff, but this is really freakin awesome. Super-duper samples. Super arrangment. It sounds really epic. Diggin the chorus samples. Great song choice. Congrats on kicking ass.

[Elex Synn]

Lessee... I come home from work, and on the top of the new mixes list, I see a sign of gawd! My wish has been granted!

This song is beautiful, and o-so Peaceful!

Thank you DJ K-Wix & Israfel! You are my heroes! :D

[GrayLightning]

Being very familiar with this mix, and both mixers who produced this - I have to admit this isn't my favorite mix in Kwix's repertoire, as this is an earlier work. I think his newer work is a bit more daring and distinctly different in genre compared to originals. However with that being said, Kwix did a very good job on this, and certainly a solid OC debut. As DJP noted Israfel did the recording and a few touch ups, and it does show. The production is of high quality like Israfel's other works. In all, if you're looking for epic orchestral mixes, you'll have a hard time finding one at this level. Very good, epic and quality work.

[Russell Cox]

Overall the song has a good feel to it. The pulse is constant and the syncopation is pretty easy to keep up with and doesn't get too out of hand. However, I'm not that wild about this song for several reasons:

1) Nothing really interesting happens, with the exception of a sudden key change around 2:58 that doesn't sound that dramatic and just sounds like a signification to the ending of the song.

2) The snare drum sounds too close in the mix -- it reminds of the horrible recording of 20020220 where the mic was placed *right* next to the snare drum and drowned out the whole orchestra.

3) Here's the biggie -- reverse string placement. I hate it when composers reverse the placement of Violins I & II with Cellos & Contrabasses, or any other alteration, with a passion. Some people may like the unorthodox sound to it, but to me it just sounds wrong (which consequentially is a reason I'm not to wild about a lot of Israfel's works because of this one reason).

As far as the 'epic' comments, I don't really see what's so epic about it. Yes, it is a good strong, solid song but it doesn't have a 'epic' feel to it I think. I sounds more than a laid back march to battle than an epic work.

[Israfel]

Glad to hear you guys liked this. I would agree with GL in that I think Kwix has gone on to do more interesting arrangements, but I still enjoy it and was more than happy to help out a little. And to those who like the piece I just want to make it clear that 90% or more of this arrangement was written by Kwix, so give credit where it is due. ^_^

As far as Russell's comments go- I'm sorry to hear that he wasn't fond of this or my other works, but it's just a matter of personal preference I suppose.

It is worth noting that as an electronic musician I've made a conscious decision to not emulate real instruments. That is, whilst my samples might sound like a certain instrument I don't worry about that instrument's limitations (range, interval leaps, etc.). Likewise I don't concern myself with adhering to traditional instrument placement or panning.

To me, one of the joys of electronic music is that it frees musicians from the limitations and traditions of live music.

Now obviously not everyone is going to accept or enjoy this approach to electronic music- but hey, variety is the spice of life, right? :)

So yeah- if you're looking for realistic "orchestra simulations" then you've come to the wrong guy. ^_~

But anyway, cheers Kwix and I hope to hear more mixes from you.

[Metasquares]

I really liked this. I wish I could say more, but I can't, because I have no idea why I liked it. I just do.

[krispy]

SWEEET K-Wix, I knew this one would go up; I wasnt very impacted by this song when you first sent it to me 3 months earlier or something crazy like that, but now its kidn of grown on me although Im still hung up on the lack of thrust...it just kinda bounces on but doesn't go into any truly epic states.

[GreatLeo]

I really enjoyed your guys take on this theme I first heard this way back on vgmix before it went down it sounds very epic much like something you would hear from the soundtrack of LOTR. I especially liked the unique vocals you guys added to this piece it makes it stand out very uniquely. As for the instruments "not" sounding totally real maybe for someone like Russell its a problem its just personal preference thats all but you know it doesnt take away anything from the works you have done MD I absolutely loved all the remixes you did and do look forward to hearing more from you in the future. :D

[k-wix]

Yea, wow.. Thanks for the words everyone, and Israfel DID do quite a bit of touch-up work : ) he's the man. and without him, I dont think this mix would have made it : \, so, as he said, give credit where its due.

[Starblaze]

The key change at 3:00 sounds fine to me, but I'm used to weird key changes. =P I'm in band.

Anyway, no less than I would expect from either K-Wix or MD. Excellent work.

[Outworlder]

Excellent work, in my opinion. I love the feel of this song. It really captures the 'essence' of the fantasy battlefield in Ogre Battle. I really like it when mixes try to recreate the spirit of the game or a particular aspect of it.

The only flaw I can see in the song is the 'xylophone-musicbox' sounds used. They just don't seem to blend well playing in the particular parts they do. For me, it causes the mix to loose some of its 'epicness'. Perhaps they could have been modified or replaced with something else that provides counterbalance (lack of technical music knowledge means I make up my own terms). I'm surprised no one else has mentioned this... maybe I just hear things that others don't <insert schizophrenia joke here, my own are getting stale> or maybe I just have weird tastes.

[Drake]

I dunno, I'd have to disagree with you on the xylophone sound thing, Striker. I feel that it is a good contrast to the rest of the piece, myself. I especially like the parts where the xylophone comes in for a few peaceful seconds, right before the next section of the piece starts. Very fun. It really eases the higher tension moments of the song, then sweeps you back in as fast as it took you down.

[The-Fact]

Don't get me wrong... I'm not a leet remixer, and have no idea what most of you guys are talking about most of the time.... Just a long time fan of remixes here, and visit this site daily to download new tracks. And I have to say, this is the best remix I've heard yet bar none. I loved Ogre Battle, but I didn't care much for its soundtrack. So that's saying a lot from my end.

[Outworlder]

I dunno, I'd have to disagree with you on the xylophone sound thing, Striker. I feel that it is a good contrast to the rest of the piece, myself. I especially like the parts where the xylophone comes in for a few peaceful seconds, right before the next section of the piece starts. Very fun. It really eases the higher tension moments of the song, then sweeps you back in as fast as it took you down.

I like the concept of it, I just don't think the right instrument was used.

[neostormx]

This is one of my favorites now too. For me, it all comes down to that low brass sample sounding so good. The choir is also another element that makes it sound professional.

If you could, please give more detail on the choir samples. Very good job, guys.

[Israfel]

Alrighty, here's the deal with the choir samples. They're "Voices of The Apocalypse" and it is available from soundsonline.com for about $450.

I actually wouldn't recommend getting it though unless you just have money burning a hole in your pocket or if you're making money from your music. I mean, the samples are nice but they're a bit troublesome to work with.

Aside from vowel sounds, consonants are also sampled, and it is possible to get realistically sung words out of this thing. I've never done it in a mix (well, I have a FF7 mix that sorta does it, but not really), but I have gotten it to work and it's friggin' cool. :)

[Russell Cox]

I actually wouldn't recommend getting it though unless you just have money burning a hole in your pocket or if you're making money from your music. I mean, the samples are nice but they're a bit troublesome to work with.

That about sums up Nick Phoenix. VotA has a pretty good sound, but it's packaged in an 'amaeturish' way. Just Men and Women? I'm sorry, but no matter how good the samples are that's like Garritan or Sonic Implants releasing a string library that just has one large Legato, Pizzicato, Sordino, or Marcato string sample -- it just doesn't work. A *good* choir library should have your Soprano, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Tenor, Baritone, and Bass, not a mass heap of "Men" and "Women." The unbearable hiss in the lower registers of the two heaps is just unacceptable also, as well as recording divsi parts with VotA is impossible.

We're finally starting to see some *good* libraries coming out (SAM Horns, SAM Trombones, Sonic Implants Strings, VSL, Garritan solo strings *hopefully soon*) and I think it's about time a developer looks into making a *good* choir library. I mean come on -- there are *enough* piano libraries out there, focus on other instruments companies!

[Israfel]

That would be rather nice. Multisampled vowels and consonants for voice parts and then maybe for solo voices too. Although that would probably be way out of my price range and have annoyingly large samples spread out over a several CDs. Sorta like these new strings sample sets that are starting to come out. Good lord they're expensive. I'll just have to stick with what I've got I suppose.

But Sam Horns on the other hand look like a great buy.

[Russell Cox]

But Sam Horns on the other hand look like a great buy.

Definitely! And I'm speaking from experience. SAM sounds infinitely better than Dan Dean Brass Ensembles and the tone is better than Vienna Symphonic Library.

[lord-of-shadow]

Sorry to butt in on your music-improving discussion, but I'd like to comment on this lovely remix ;)

Anyways, great remix. Unlike many of the ones on this site, I can easily tell what it is remixed from, and it manages to catch the spirit of the game well... all without being to similar to the originals. Great work, I wish more artists would follow your lead. I especially love the choir.

[Corporal Eschebone]

This is a nice co-op mix of Ogre Battle [which I've never played, though I wish I had...well, at least I rented Ogre Battle 64 and have Tactics Ogre, but I'm getting sidetracked.]

This has a great dramatic feel to it...the voice samples, those string-instrument-sounding-things-whatever, the very pace of it... I just can't stop listening to it. I don't know what else to say, I'm already mimicing the people before me. So...here.

92.5%

Cherish it and love it forever, I still haven't found a mix that surpasses that rating.

[Paladin-01]

I especially love the choir.


Hear hear! It is SO damn hard to find a good choir track, from anything, anyone, anywhere. Dramatic at least, instead of gospel stuff. Nothing wrong with that, but an epic sounding mix with choir? Ce magnifique.

[Arcana]

This was the mix that first made me really notice OCRemix as a source of great music. This track, although a bit less aggressive than either of the contributors' other works, is still a solid march theme and really instills a strong sense of battle atmosphere.

Nice work, Israfel and k-wix. Thank you for getting me into OCR!

[nikstar]

being that I crave OB series remixes, I felt that it was a must to say how much this remix embodies what I am looking for. I have the arranged album Ogre - Grand Repeat and this song would easily rank among those arrangements. Beautiful job and excellent rendition, a must hear.

[EnriqueTDL]

This is a suberb orchestra remix. As people have said before, it really points to OB's excellent OST.

A must-hear for anyone who enjoys epic-sound mixes.

[Nec5]

It's pretty funny how this remains my favorite kwix song and my favorite Ogre Battle song. Future Ogre Battle games should do something like this. This mix has a grand vision and beautifully pulls it off. Good job, you two.

[Loning]

This piece is literally one of the most amazing remixes I have ever heard. I think i've listened to this song too many times and it has lost some of its greatness over time, but I can still come back to it at any point in time and relive the wonderful arrangement that the both of you have put together. I think that there aren't anymore Ogre Battle remixes on this site for a reason...it's impossible to live up to the expectations that this remix has set the bar for. :)

[duane]

This mix grabbed me by the face, demanding my attention. It tells a story, and does so in a deliberate and articulate manner. Good Show! Worthwhile.

[OA]

Pretty exciting marcato string writing throughout, and the choir, while obviously synthetic, is pretty effective as well. Samples are actually holding up pretty well; this sounds like a nicely produced PS2 title.

Arrangement is cool, and the modulation was placed just perfectly; the track needed something to keep things exciting, and it got it. :-)

Pretty epic stuff, I dig it.

[Marmiduke]

One of a handful of mixes that got me to not just listen to mixes of music that I knew and actually explore new and unchartered waters. All these years later and I still haven't played or heard anything from Ogre Battle, but I nevertheless love this mix.
The samples are nowhere near the level of quality I remember, but it would be crazy to expect anything different. Regardless, they still sound decent enough, with the strings and choir faring a little better than the brass. Overall, the sound package is pleasant to listen to.
The one thing that surprised me was how safe the arrangement was; something I'd never picked up on before. It does veer into a routine later in the mix and whereas the bridge is quite excellent, it didn't satisfy my want for this to be a little more expansive.
So it's not as groundshaking and adrenalised as I seem to remember, but much has changed with myself and the mixing scene since then, so I'm okay with the contrast. This is still a very fine orchestral mix and will always have a positive place in my musical memory. It will also be a constant reminder to getting around to playing Ogre Battle one of these years!