PRC120: How about some Magitek mayhem? (Final Fantasy 6)

[Rexy]

The People's Remix Competition 120
PRCv5-16

Hello everyone and welcome to the People's Remix Competition! (www.doulifee.com/prc/PrcSong/PRCcommercial.wmv) We faced a REAL surprise last contest, when voters and remixers turned up in their mass quantities, thus providing the most active turnout the competition has had for the past 15 months! Amidst the quantity also came a first win for PRC rookie Showroom Dummy, providing a Kraftwerk-esque interpretation covering a source tune from Tales of Symphonia.

We're still with RPGs this competition, albeit we are shifting our focus from Namco to Square this time. This game doesn't even NEED an introduction, given that it's among one of the most popular known titles around the remixing community; even Liontamer hates its theme song to death. Last one to Narshe is a rotten moogle!

http://bev.wooff.googlepages.com/prc120.PNG

For the next competition, I'm choosing one of my favorite songs ever, from my favorite RPG ever, which is also one of my favorite games ever, which is also my favorite videogame soundtrack ever, and ever and ever and ever! XD

It's Final Fantasy VI (3 in America)

But don't panic yet! I know the rules of PRC, and this song hasn't been remixed, or at least not on OCR or any other place that I know of, and I really really love it.

The song is a bit complicated but I am sure a lot of people love the soundtrack as much as I do and will want to give it a try. :D

Final Fantasy VI - The Magic House
MIDI (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/materials/PRC120_magichouse.mid) | MP3 (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/materials/PRC120_magichouse.mp3) | SPC (http://bev.wooff.googlepages.com/prc120.spc)

Come on everyone, we're looking at one of the most recognisable RPGs of all time. Surely we can mimic the success of the previous contest, right? Anyway...

GOOD LUCK!

Fine Print:
PRC instructions If you happen to be mixing this song already, start over in the interests of fairness.
Limitations at ThaSauce require your entry to be 6MB or less in size. Length for length's sake and MIDI rips are not allowed.
Entries must be posted in the ThaSauce link (http://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC120) by NEXT SATURDAY, May 17th at 4:59 am Eastern US Time.
You may enter as many mixes as you like and work with as many people as you like on each mix.
Do not make qualitative comments on an entry until the results of the vote have been posted.
Mixers cannot vote for themselves but if they vote they recieve a free first place vote added onto their score.
The winner of the previous contest can't take part but their vote will be doubled.Doulifee's PRC Archives! (http://doulifee.com/prc/PrcSong/prc.php) If you need help with hosting your mix, contact myself or Doulifee, and we'll help you out.

[Hylian Lemon]

I decided on a cheap OCR ripoff to spice up the logo a bit.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sawdead/d057ccc2.png (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16115)
[url=http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=16115][IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/0903/sawdead/d057ccc2.png[/IMG*][/url*]

Also, make sure you fix that deadline, Rexy.

[Rexy]

What deadline? ;)

(Shhh, no telling what the hell happened there)

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

Karl Harmdierks is a fool. A fool that does not know anything about dancing or style.

[Binweasel]

Hm. Despite just having played FF6 and being of the opinion that it has the best soundtrack of them all, I think I'll sit this one out. Good song; just can't think of what I could do with it that would count as more than an arrangement.

Except an acoustic guitar quintet... but my samples and playing skill can't pull that off.

[munchi]

I'm all over this piece like Halle Berry in monsters ball!

[Alex Smith]

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Perfect source. PERFECT!!!

[Psychog13]

Gotta admit, I hate final fantasy with a passion so im most likely out of this one. :(

[bladiator]

I really don't know anything about dancing or style.

...but I can kick LAOS ass 100 times out of 100.

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

I really don't know anything about dancing or style.

...but I can kick LAOS ass 100 times out of 100.

If by kick you mean lick.

[Hardbeat Acolyte]

Hah, couldn't get up to Figaro without getting bored and going to play the free RPG Laxius Power instead... But I may have a go at rmxing =P

[Rexy]

You got bored before you even first witnessed Kefka, THE greatest Final Fantasy villain of all time?* News to me. o_O()

(*Screw you Sephiroth, you can't even become a successful god and keep that status for more than 2 weeks -_-)

[bladiator]

If by kick you mean lick.

I really wish you wouldn't incorrectly quote me ... and consequently, you're going down. WAY DOWN.

moar liek blandiator, mirite?

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

Like I went down on your mother last night?

[Sir_NutS]

Oh Burn!

And yes Kefka is full of win. Nihilism at its best.

[Flexstyle]

Oy, we'll see if I can get time for this one--if I do come through, expect a dreamy trance mix of it!

[munchi]

"Nihilism"
Wow! I had to Wikipedia that one! But you're are absolutely right sir! Kefka WAS a Nihilist. That's what made that game so often. How many games lead you up to a big climatic battle to save the world and you LOSE! Awesome!

[OneUp]

I'm in, but I think my submission will test the rule of midi-ripping...

[munchi]

I've tried to submit my remix and it says "ID3 tags could not be updated. Did you upload an MP3?" Now I did create it using Sonar 7 and that LAME encoder of theirs. Should I try not encoding the id tags? In the mean time, here's my entry via myspace:

http://www.myspace.com/munchioo3

*Edit*
My thoughts behind this piece:
The source material seems like a lone melody with very little harmonic elements, so I elongated and syncopated the rhythm and then spent the rest of my time fleshing out a complimenting latin groove to back the melody. In the end, one of the melodic segments I chose to keep it close to it's original format to make it more recognizable. The entire melodic line is a transposed, elongated, syncopated magic house.
Overall, I was trying to go for an 80's latin jazz sound with the spanish words looping in the background and the deep reverb toms. Something like David Bleimier meets Carlos Santana. I used a flanger on both the voice samples and tweaked the fine a little to give them a more 80's quality (not being exactly on pitch at exactly the right time) and yes all voices in this piece is me.
PS: the underlying chorus is saying "venido a la casa de la magia" which is spanish for "come to the magic house."

[munchi]

After thought, can we try to submit our mixes to be listed on OCR proper if they're that good?

[Showroom Dummy]

After thought, can we try to submit our mixes to be listed on OCR proper if they're that good?

I think you can submit your track anywhere you please. I've submitted my song from the last competition to Remix:ThaSauce and I Rexy didn't say anything about it. But then again i don't know if she noticed that.

[munchi]

Oh, ok! I didn't know remix: thaSauce took submissions as well. Maybe I should explore the site a little more fully, instead of lurking...(a hard habit to break)

[munchi]

Ok, I managed to get my song onto thaSauce. I used FL Studio to produce the mp3 and did NOT encode the id tags. Does anyone have a clue why that happened for my future referece? I prefer Sonar to create my mp3s (i think it produces better quality and has more tweaks you can do), so I wouldn't like this to be an ongoing issue.

[Sir_NutS]

Ok, I managed to get my song onto thaSauce. I used FL Studio to produce the mp3 and did NOT encode the id tags. Does anyone have a clue why that happened for my future referece? I prefer Sonar to create my mp3s (i think it produces better quality and has more tweaks you can do), so I wouldn't like this to be an ongoing issue.

Well, I prefer to encode to Wav from Reason or FL and then use an external encoder such as CDex (http://cdexos.sourceforge.net/) to make the mp3 file. This one in particular allows me to encode it in VBR which is a pretty neat way to keep my files small without losing too much quality overall. Also encoding to wav allows me to load the file to different external programs to analyze it, and maybe do some post-mastering... which I rarely ever do because I'm cheap like that, but when I want my songs to be as perfect as possible this is the best route to take.

[Bundeslang]

I think you can submit your track anywhere you please. I've submitted my song from the last competition to Remix:ThaSauce and I Rexy didn't say anything about it. But then again i don't know if she noticed that.
It's no problem. Some OC-Remixes are remixes which where created for PRC and edited later (with the comments from voters) for submission.

[OneUp]

Ok, I managed to get my song onto thaSauce. I used FL Studio to produce the mp3 and did NOT encode the id tags. Does anyone have a clue why that happened for my future referece? I prefer Sonar to create my mp3s (i think it produces better quality and has more tweaks you can do), so I wouldn't like this to be an ongoing issue.
Just open it in e.g. Winamp and change the tag there?

[Rexy]

It's no problem. Some OC-Remixes are remixes which where created for PRC and edited later (with the comments from voters) for submission.

Bundeslang got it right. I think the last time we had a PRC mix head onto OCR was with Bladiator's winning entry for PRC81 (http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01590/).

[munchi]

Wow, good thinking Sir Nuts. And thank you everyone for the helpful hints. Oy! So much to learn still. I guess it never stops huh?

[Siamey]

Ugh, the thing I'm making is starting to sound like timbaland. shudder

[Hardbeat Acolyte]

*Submits* Alas, because i had to submit straight away now I only had time for a lower setting of sampler interpolation or whatever (6 point hermite or whatever). Hopefully it doesn't have much of a bad effect on the overall mix...

[Rexy]

I'm in, but I think my submission will test the rule of midi-ripping...

Don't worry, after hearing your entry you're in the clear. It's alright to reference to certain sections of MIDI to include in a mix in some form or other (I believe Chickenwarlord does that quite a bit).

It only gets really extreme if it ends up being a conservative arrangement; I believe PRC76 (http://www.doulifee.com/prc/PrcSong/prc.php?prcid=76) was nasty in particular considering midi-ripping, due to there being three disqualified entries and all. You can tell that since then I've had to be more careful than the usual validating PRC entries.

[Chickenwarlord]

It's true, I can't write drum lines to save my life. :-(

[OneUp]

Don't worry, after hearing your entry you're in the clear. It's alright to reference to certain sections of MIDI to include in a mix in some form or other (I believe Chickenwarlord does that quite a bit).

It only gets really extreme if it ends up being a conservative arrangement; I believe PRC76 (http://www.doulifee.com/prc/PrcSong/prc.php?prcid=76) was nasty in particular considering midi-ripping, due to there being three disqualified entries and all. You can tell that since then I've had to be more careful than the usual validating PRC entries.
I remade it quite a bit, so I didn't worry when I submitted it. Actually everything except the guitars and drums is a midi rip, and the building of the song is almost exactly the same, but I think I made it interesting enough.

[Chickenwarlord]

No drums for me.

[Siamey]

KWESTION

some ff8 stuff crept into my mix, crept in so hard that it became the chorus, is this a problem?

[Rexy]

KWESTION

some ff8 stuff crept into my mix, crept in so hard that it became the chorus, is this a problem?

Providing there's a hint of Magic House there, I wouldn't mind.

Still, we got a bunch of entries, so I think we should move onto the voting stage. I might be nearly 2 hours late, but I'm sure we'll move ahead pretty soon.

[Rexy]

Alright, time to move onto the voting stage! We've got five mixes submitted, so we've got ourselves a coherent round. Nice one.

Here's what you're going to do (and pay attention Siamey, this is a different system than last time you submitted an entry). You will visit the ThaSauce link (http://compo.thasauce.net/rounds/view/PRC120) and fill in the form at the bottom of the page. Select 3 mixes and rank them from first to third with a reasoning attached to it. Contestants are encouraged to vote as they will automatically get three points added to their score if they do so. The vote of PRC119's winner (Showroom Dummy) counts twice, so make sure you impress him just as much as your peers. You have until Tuesday, May 20th at 4:59AM EDT to cast your vote. The winner gets to choose the source tune for PRC121!

Chickenwarlord - Totally Ordinary Cottage (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/Chickenwarlord_-_Totally_Ordinary_Cottage(PRC120).mp3)
munchi - La Casa de la Magia (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/munchi_-_la_Casa_de_la_Magia(PRC120).mp3)
OneUp - Haunted House (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/OneUp_-_Haunted_House(PRC120).mp3)
setokaibarocket - Call of the Arcane (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/setokaibarocket_-_Call_of_the_Arcane(PRC120).mp3)
Siamey - TimeShock (http://compo.thasauce.net/files/Siamey_-_TimeShock(PRC120).mp3)

[OneUp]

Voted. Decent turn-out! Funny that the name of my song is the same as the
Conceptual Music Competition 19. Not intended at all.

[Dark_T_Zeratul]

Voted! Some nice pieces this time. I picked out my top three easily, but had a more difficult time deciding how to order them.

[Bundeslang]

It's been a while..... since I NOT VOTED FOR PRC. Last time was PRC99 (#100 was close, I came back and voted just 25 minutes before that deadline). PRC99 was in september, so I try to vote for every PRC till at least PRC125 (which makes a year without not voting).

[Rexy]

Talking of which, does anyone know how long R:TS has been down for? I'm almost implied to extend the voting deadline if it gets any more serious overnight.

[Kyle Nin]

I was about to vote, but it seems that ThaSauce is down. Does anyone know if it'll be back up before the voting deadline?

EDIT: Okay, it seems to be back up now. Only six hours left to vote!

[Siamey]

The suspense is killing me! check that actually, mildly irritating me. Yea there we go.

[Rexy]

ThaSauce downtime means that there'll be a voting extension of 6 hours. I can't let it happen like that >.>

[Siamey]

I fucking stayed up till 4 in the morning to see how the voting turned out and now its another 6 hours, and I'm definitely not staying up till 10 in the morning. lol serves me right, I should get on a better schedule.

[Rexy]

Staying up til THAT hour? That's best reserved for the freakin' Dwelling of Duels, not PRC :P

But anyway, we got results! Who saved Relm from the likes of Chadarnook and is advancing to Kefka's tower? Who got lost inside Owzer's house? And who still needs a freakin' airship?

Total number of votes - 9
Total number of mixes - 5
Highest possible score - 27

Chickenwarlord and setokaibarocket are both sharing a last place wooden spoon between them with 8 points each.

munchi lounges his way through to third place with 13 points.

OneUp just got rocked out to second place with 15 points.

And the winner of PRC120 is Siamey with 25 points!

Well done once again! Who would have thought that FF6 and FF8 would blend together like that? (And for the record, no, it didn't sound like Timbaland; his beats are thinner than that :D)

Still, I'm assuming you know the drill concerning PRC source selections, so be sure to send it into my PM box by Friday morning.

Thanks for your time everyone; once again the turnout was fat and I hope the trend will be able to keep itself up over the weeks to come. I'll see you all on Friday for PRC121!

[OneUp]

I admit Siamey were superior this round, so big congrats!

[Siamey]

Thanks guys!

Lets see... I'm gonna rectify the mistake I made last time I submitted a source tune :D

Setokaibarocket is gonna love this source I think!

[Hardbeat Acolyte]

Congrats Siamey! =D I look forward to remixing whichever song you'll choose next PRC =D