OCR01021 - Final Fantasy VII 'Fluss der Liebe'

[djpretzel]

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

[Vagrant_D]

From beginning. The waterdrop and wind tunnel effects are very nice. Sounds sorta Celtic to me.....I think I hear Bagpipes in the background, very faintly. From there out, a very soothing mix of new age. Break out the crystals and incense. Heh.

Very nicely done.

[DJ_Aquagenesis]

Break out the crystals and incense.



yea. get the incesnse. this song is pretty mellow out. i like it cuz it sounds like u are "finding your happy place". great music for a night with you and your girlfriend/ boyfriend. 10/10.

[Dj Orange]

I wish I hadn't traded in Final Fantasy VII.

[sgx]

Quite nice. The snares were kinda whack, but the rest of the tune was generally very cool and atmospheric. Raindrops make me wanna pee! The section after the more orchestral section kinda just fades in in a weird way. Sounds a bit disjointed. Other than that stuff, very enjoyable.

[Javis]

I really love this remix. Now here's the embarrassing part...I can't figure out which FFVII song this is a remix of. Can someone help me out here? Is it the Life Stream song?

[Epsilon]

It reminds me of Tifa's home town... that and some sort of crystal/ snowy ice cave...i can't put my finger on it maybe the song played when your in the snowy area? Or maybe its a mix of a bunch of songs, either way its fantastic!

[Tets]

I don't know what to say, it's just great. Very relaxing to listen to.

Also, I'm pretty sure this is a remix of the Life Stream tune.

[GrayLightning]

I guess I am the first of the collaborators to comment. Thank you to those who commeted and enjoyed the mix. It was great working with DarkPrinceLuca, Freemind and Israfel. 8)

Tets is correct, this is Life Stream.

[Shhteve]

Wow.. I just don't know what to say. I closed my eyes and listened throughout the entire piece, and felt myself flowing through the Lifestream myself. I really appreciate collaborative efforts, and hearing the styles of every composer shine through in one golden piece of work. This is what should replace the REAL Lifestream theme in FF7. 8O !!

[Rexy]

I was surprised by this remix of the Lifestream tune, and it was one of those many tracks I've been waiting for a chance to listen to for a while now. :) Very wise selection of instruments (some of which even tickled my nose :shock: ), and a great use of dynamics here. I thought they used too much treble somewhere, but that's just me. :P
Overall, a great remix, if not perfect. ;)

[DarkPrinceLuca]

Gray sayed it!
It was fun to work on this song.
and we surely work in a collab again :)

i have something in mind already ;)

[*MP*Evil_Cartman]

Fantastic.

10/10!!!

'Nuff Said

[Rucianu]

I think DJPretzel pretty much said everything I would have. Very nice, flowing, peaceful song. I like the water drop effect in the beginning...it's obvious that a lot of time and thought went into this piece.
9.5/10 :D

[The Orichalcon]

I don't think I've ever heard a song thats spread so far up and down the quality scale.

In some parts this is absolutely brilliant. The beginning is absolutely outstanding, it's what I dream of making. But then about 2:30 in, it takes an instant nose dive. I don't know whether this was intentional or not. I just think it could have been better.

Also I like this tune, but what's with the monotonous strings in the background? What gave this piece it's emotional kick was the way it jumped around the scales. Right at around 1:30 this is the point that it needs this.

Like I said, this is a really good piece, and the effort in it must have been extraordinary. After all, all good things have errors in them. :)

One of the top remixes of the site. All four of you need to be congratulated.

[Psycrow]

Whatever i said on VGmix applies here :P i.e. just throw in Russell Cox and you've got enough composition power to destroy the universe!
I still don't understand what's going on after 3:54 though... it's like one of you said "Hey, let's make this have a strong climactic ending!" and another said "No, let's just paste in a section from before and slightly modify it!" and you couldn't agree so you did both :P Did we really need to hear that part again after the "first" ending? Transition could've been smoother, at least.
Other than that, this is a pretty seamless representation of your collective talents. Great work, guys :)

[Eccles]

The beginning...no, that doesnt work for me...

The piano is very clean and it works...though its very simplistic...I think so much more could have been done with that.

The drums make me weep...as does the entire remix from the point when they come in to the point when they cease their assault my ears.
I think whoever did the drums could do with learning what the term "to be in time with the music" means and stick to it because these most certainly werent.

Ignoring the section with the drums (because thats the only good thing you can do with it) the whole thing just sounds like one huge intro...throughout the piece I was...well, I dunno.
I was expecting something to actually happen as opposed to what seems like the same eight bars repeating over and over. and over and over. and over. and over.

The equalising needs sorting out, I find...namely the crescendo near the end of the drum assault that makes my speakers preamp and crackle like crazy.

I find myself wondering why this is here since it doesnt comply to any of these 'OCR standards' I keep hearing so much about.

[GrayLightning]

Comments were made out of a misunderstanding and thus withdrawn.

[Eccles]

Gray, I know how this seem, but let me assure you...
I dont carry grudges and even if I did they'd stay in the WIP...this isnt the place.

My comments still stand with no desire for alteration.

[CyberDuck]

RECANIZE!

[Kamikaze Noodle]

This is an a very well crafted piece of music. The begining is no doubt the best part. With the surreal FX and choral work. It's like floating through some kind of etherreal world or something. It's awesome. Then at 2:30 things get weird...
That snare is just *bleh* and the melody is very weak. It sounds like screwing around on a violin. But at 3:50 it picks itself back up after that rather unfavorable section and works magic. Transporting me back to the cool etherreal world I was in before. And when it ends, I wanna go back. Which ends up putting me in a disposition of playing the song over and over. :P A very well made track overall, with a definite low in the middle.

[MC]

The piece follows a loose A-B-A' form, right? In any case, I will structure my review on that assumption.

I'm afraid Kamikaze Noodle was wrong in his assessment. :P

A, A': I'm a huge sucker for expression in piano parts. I didn't think this was a terribly expressive piano part. Only minimally colorful at most, which I thought to be at 2:21-2:27. Very little dynamic variation in the piano. Perhaps this was their intention, as to obscure the piano and not have it draw too much attention. Maybe that was a wise choice--I know I would brought it out quite a bit further...probably 'cause that's the only instrument I can write for... Nothing major here, but a pet peeve: the rolled chord at the end. I think the only time you should roll chords like that is when your hand isn't big enough to play all a chord's notes at once.

B: The only thing that didn't sit very well with me was the snare drum. Not a lot of dynamic variation, and I'm not sure that the snare was the best choice to use in this case (perhaps a timpani instead?). Otherwise, I did enjoy the orchestral/middle/marchlike section. It sounds like there's a bit more thought that went into layering the instruments, dynamics and color than in the other parts.

but then again, I only see in black and white. Take my review how you will!

[Aureolius]

Good piece. I dig the ambient effects. Interesting result from an unlikely collaboration.

My advice: Unless you have a good internal rhythm, I suggest you sequence the notes one by one, as opposed to doing a live performance. This resulted in a very disjointed segment where the snare drum made an appearance. The drum should hold the rhythm together, but these drums seemed to do the opposite.

[zyko]

at first listen, i was unsure whether i was hearing an experimental venture into new places for this community or the confident workmanship of refined art. from the very first drop, my mind expanded to match the intensity of the ambience. this is a well conceptualized, arranged and executed work of art by DPL and crew. Fluss der Liebe has the tone of an introspective monologue... i would be curious to know what the piece means to its creators

i was surprised that when the piano came in, i was not caught off gaurd. freemind's contribution rings loud n clear in perhaps what is the best fitting piano ive heard in an ambient new age vg arrangement in a very long time. excellent match to the much more synthetic and overpowering pads in its background... which incidentally had a very intoxicating progression - i love the tonal structuring you guys did with the synth chords and the piano lead. you can sense graylightning's style of orchestration and chord voicings throughout the song and the tone is reminiscent of tears of a swordsman. amazing stuff, man. 1:55-2:00 is GOLD. at about 2:30 is when israfel's contributions are most felt - need i even say that michael dover is quite adept at writing engaging orchestral accompaniment? the deep strings and well written orchestral drums of that section drive the whole section to what is truly an epic climax at 3:50.

you can pick out each part of the piece per contributor very well which is one of the aspects of it that attracts me the most; its almost as if you are able to visualize each individual's contribution simultaneously... not very common in collabs.

excellent work, gentlemen.

~weed

[JorJorMogBoi]

I liked this ReMix. The beginning was cool. The waterdrops were a cool effect. The piano was REALLY good; I liked that a lot. I liked the "orchestral" part okay. I actually liked the drums, but after reading the comments here and listening to it again, maybe they're a LITTLE off (to my untrained ear). It still gave it a great epic sound though, so I support them being there, just maybe improved. I was confused by the ending though. Like other people, I thought it was over, but the beginning part came in again. Great remix overall though!

[Freemind]

the rolled chord at the end. I think the only time you should roll chords like that is when your hand isn't big enough to play all a chord's notes at once.

Hm....Sorry for being late at my reply but I have some jobs to do..I like very much the rolls at the end...They give a smooth ending, which I love...My opinion is that the specific sample of the piano was a bit "hard"...It had good dynamics but it didn't have the sense of a real piano.....

[GreatLeo]

Oh I love Collabs they are always great to listen to in my mind because they add the style of more than one artist. But anyways about the song which has always been one of my favorites. The ambient water sounds are a very nice touch reminds me of wingless's SOM Water Palace theme he did way back. I think Gray, DarkPrinceLuca, Israfel and freemind did a great job on this and definately would like to see them get together and produce another fine mix. :)

[Gwilym]

i can't get into this track. obviously it's made a lot of people happy, but to me it seems amateurish, aimless, meandering and, frankly, boring... sorry.

there are some nice little modifications to the original theme, and a choir sound that i like, but aside from that nothing holds my interest. it's not really bad, but i feel nothing when listening to it, aside from faint boredom. two major nitpicks though:

-the piano is too mechanical. every note seems to have the same velocity*; it needs humanising.
-the 2:32 section is too human. every note seems to be syncopated; it needs quantising.

mm.

*despite the fact that the volume of the notes varies

[Villainelle]

Damn! DJP's blurb sounded promising, and I was especially enthused to hear something Israfel participated in (love your other stuff), but...I have to agree with the other negative reviews on this one. I second everything Gwilym said except the "amateurish" bit...the original orchestration keeps sounding like it has the potential to really take off, but then just ambles about idly. Drums were better left out entirely. A case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, perhaps? It does sound like an overly long intro that never gets off the ground. *sigh* It was such a great choice of an uncommon FFVII track.

I'm sorry. Really wanted to like it, but can't.

[robochar]

Wow! I really enjoyed this....its very beautiful and it has a very real orchestra sound to it. It also convoys alot of emotion and spirit. If I saw any room for change I would say made a little more dynamtics would of helped. But otherwise a great piece ^^

[Israfel]

at about 2:30 is when israfel's contributions are most felt - need i even say that michael dover is quite adept at writing engaging orchestral accompaniment?


Well, actually... I'm surprised that I haven't commented on this mix yet. But in the interest of full disclosure, any mention of engaging orchestral arrangement in this mix should really be aimed at Gray. My involvement in this piece was extremely minimal- in fact, the mix was already considered finished when I first heard it.

All I really did was add the horn melody at 2:40, as well as little background stuff like the harp chords at that same section.

But all the same, I enjoyed working on the mix, and hope that I can do more collaborations in the future. Preferably one that I'm more involved with. :wink:

[benevolensaurus]

This is very nice, very ethereal, very... floating. As DJP mentioned in the write-up, those subtle high-end electric synth FX are quite bea-utiful, and really make this mix something special. Seriously, a little addition like that can add so much to a piece like this, and the people who made the piece knew full well how to take advantage of that.

Like others, I too feel the drum to be a little out of place, but that's not enough to ruin the piece as a whole.

So yeah, like I said, very nice overall.

[Bummerdude]

This reminds me of Bugenhagen´s lessons in the game, this remix would so fit in there, dudes.

It has a very lonely beginning, sounds like someone is sitting in the slums of Midgar and plays some notes on a piano that happens to stand there. When the piano then gets two-handed, the strings comes in, and then we got the feel of the Lifestream, a smooth and calm that just lets your problems melt away, a very touching remix if I might say.

Well done to all of you. :D :D :D :D

[42]

I didn't really care for the change at 2:34 with the drums coming in and all. It's trying to add a marching tone to pretty good classical piece before hand.

Don't get me wrong, this is still a great and well done mix and worth checking out if you like orchestral/atmospheric mixes, but it just isn't for me. :|

[OA]

Some nice moments for sure here, though some of the parts are ultra mechanical. The piano is super robotic, especially, and the whole organic illusion is lost when it heavily pounds the notes. COmbined with an overly meandering arrangement, I can't bring myself to like this one, despite some great synth tones.

[Emunator]

I don't think the piano fits at all in the intro. At least, not until the supporting strings comes in. When it's just the piano over the ambient sound effects it felt like I was listening to 2 entirely different songs. I agree with OA on the lack of humanization that really makes the song a lot less immersive. The staccato strings and unusual drums fit within their section well enough, but it feels way different from the mood the intro set up and there really wasn't any sort of transition to help bridge that gap.

The sound effects are nicely done, though, I'll give you guys that :-) Those still hold up to today's standards. And I guess the ending feels cohesive enough to work, too, despite the piano. I guess overall this isn't a bad piece to listen to, but it feels very aged and certain elements stick out like a sore thumb that make it hard to really get lost in the mix :-(

[Mockingbird]

I really like this one, despite the out-of-place snare. It's soothing, flowing, like a song about the Lifestream should be.