OCRA-0013 - Tales: Summoning of Spirits

[KyleJCrb]

http://bumbleking.com/lea/cdcoversmall.jpg
Website: http://tales.ocremix.org/
Torrent: http://bt.ocremix.org/torrents/Namco_Tales_Series_-_Summoning_of_Spirits.torrent

Digg it! (http://digg.com/music/Free_OC_ReMix_Album_Tales_Series_Summoning_of_Spir its)

Reddit (http://reddit.destructoid.com/comments/82vjk/summoning_of_spirits_oc_remixs_album_just_released/)

Well folks, it's been a long wait, but we're finally out! Thanks to the remixers, fans, and even the decriers for your support, and we hope you enjoy our little tribute album to Tales of Phantasia and Tales of Symphonia. Be sure to post and let us know what you think!



Project-related linkage (updated as new links are found)

More Bonus Materials:
Showroom Dummy - Pixelated Tales: http://kngi.org/talesproject/site/release/bonus/BT-SoS-ShowroomDummy-PixelatedTales(TheLandofSylvarant).mp3
LuIzA, CarboHydroM - Strike of the Devil's Axes (Alternate Version): http://kngi.org/talesproject/site/release/bonus/SoS-LuIzA,CarboHydroM-StrikeoftheDevil%27sAxes(Fatalize)-AlternateVersion.mp3
AndyJayne - Raising a Curtain (WIP): http://kngi.org/talesproject/site/release/bonus/BT-SoS-AndyJayne-RaisingaCurtain(WIP).mp3
Sheet music for "The Unholy Wars" piano intro: http://kngi.org/talesproject/site/release/bonus/FightingoftheSpiritPianoIntro.pdf

Artwork:
-Summoning of Spirits artwork gallery on DeviantART: http://kylejcrb.deviantart.com/favourites/#Summoning-of-Spirits

Remixer Retrospectives:
-Tales of Prolongia: Retrospective from Nick Tam - http://www.nicholastam.ca/2009/03/08/tales-of-prolongia/
-Rexy's track breakdown video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X_abrOyOZxs
-Sixto Sounds: http://www.sixtosounds.com/music.htm
-Rexy: http://rexrock69.deviantart.com/journal/23574668/

Reviews:
-View From Heaven: http://v-f-h.blogspot.com/2009/03/summoning-of-spirits.html
-Higher Plain Music: http://highermusic.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/ocremix-summoning-of-spirits-review/
-Starbound: http://starmandx.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/semi-live-and-listen-review-of-summoning-of-spirits/ Part 2: http://starmandx.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/semi-live-listen-and-review-of-summoning-of-spirits-part-2/
Dragon Sayer- Random Select Reviews: http://dragonsayer.livejournal.com/178311.html
-Blog de Kadai (Spanish): http://www.lastfm.es/user/Kadai/journal/2009/03/24/2lad8g_summoning_of..._here_my_two_cents

Articles:
-Nintendo Power - Volume 244 (August 2009), page 95: http://kngi.org/talesproject/SummoningofSpiritsNPArticle.png
-Higher Plain Music interviews KyleJCrb and Kureejii Lea: http://highermusic.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/whispers-of-the-plains-interviews-with-overclocked-remix-project-leaders/
Tales Union interviews KyleJCrb and Kureejii Lea: http://www.talesunion.com/news/websites/ocremix/tales-union-speaks-with-co-producers-of-summoning-of-spirits
-NOWLOADING:/ (Portuguese) - http://www.nowloading.com.br/bgm-track-9-tales-of-whatever

Radio/Podcasts:
COE Weekly Podcast (1:20:44): http://odeo.com/episodes/24274444-COE-Weekly-Podcast-March-8th-2009
Tech Tangents (Episode 6): http://tt.dankeenan.org/shows/tech-tangents/6
VGDJ: http://www.vgdj.net/Shownotes/Archives/2005_07_01_vgdj_archive.html (from 2005)

Videos:
-Project preview video by Kureejii Lea: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fiGEZX_1Ods
-Video by WillRock07: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAdSUq6DMsY

Game News/Fan Sites:
-Gamer Limit: http://gamerlimit.com/2009/04/new-album-from-overclocked/
-Tales Union: http://www.talesunion.com/news/websites/ocremix/summoning-of-spirits-released-on-overclocked-remix
-Napalm Riot: http://news.napalmriot.com/detail/846/
-Tales-of-All (German): http://www.tales-of-all.de/index.php?subaction=showcomments&id=1236700829&archive=&start_from=&ucat=4&

Game Blogs:
-Nitro Game Injection: http://kngi.org/?p=51
-The Tanooki: http://www.thetanooki.com/2009/03/07/ocremix-releases-summoning-of-souls-album-of-tales-remixes/
-Informatica (Spanish): http://infomatica.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/nuevo-compilado-de-oc-remix-summoning-of-spirits/
-N+: http://my.opera.com/Nplus/blog/summoning-of-spirits-fan-album
-Game Music 4 All: http://gamemusic4all.blogspot.com/2009/03/ocremix-releases-summoning-of-spirits.html
-Powet.tv: http://powet.tv/wordpress/2009/03/09/obscure-find-of-the-week-ocr-albums/
-Console Sonoro (Portuguese): http://consolesonoro.blogspot.com/2009/03/novo-projeto-da-oc-remix.html
-The Inner World of Final Fantasy (Polish): http://www.inner-world.pl/main.php#08.03.20092054

Other Blogs:
-The Black Knights: http://the-black-knights.net/news.php?item.60
-Freebieholic: http://freebieholic.net/2009/03/25/free-oc-remix-album-tales-series-summoning-of-spirits/

Personal Blogs:
Diary of a Surfin' Squid: http://surfersquid.livejournal.com/17994.html
-The Guillo Dance: http://fulgadrum.blogspot.com/2009/03/httptales.html
-Manuel Mora (Spanish): http://www.manuelmora.es/2009/03/07/tales-summoning-of-spirits/
-Zona Pixel (Spanish): http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:yVyGae31ATcJ:www.zonapixel.es/2009/03/08/oc-remix-presenta-el-album-summoning-of-spirits/+%22SUmmoning+of+SPirits%22+OCReMix&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=32&gl=us&client=firefox-a
-Benzaiten (Portuguese): http://benzaitenbrasil.blogspot.com/2009/03/summoning-of-spirits.html
-A Gamer's Mind: http://blog.ancientcave.com/index.php/2009/03/09/ocremix-summoning-of-spirits/
-Esse Quam Videri: http://velakhar.blogspot.com/2009/03/overclocked-remix-releases-summoning-of.html
-Rozovian's Music Log: http://rozovian.wordpress.com/2009/03/10/summoning-of-spirits/
-Nitouhei (Japanese): http://nitouhei.blog42.fc2.com/blog-entry-1022.html
-CharlotteTurner: http://charlotteturner.deviantart.com/journal/23578876/
-Dekubar (Japanese): http://dekubar.blogspot.com/2009/03/summoning-of-spirits.html
-Music Forest (Japanese): http://blog.goo.ne.jp/warp50cd/e/022aed123f9b92e79ef6cf615aabb949
-Kokrs Random Stuff: http://kokrs.blogspot.com/2009/03/im-still-alive-and-partly-sane.html\
-INSULINFUNK: http://insulinfunk.net/2009/03/06/oc-remix-releases-summoning-of-spirits/
-Starbound: http://starmandx.wordpress.com/2009/03/12/overclocked-remix-summoning-of-spirits/
-I Totally Forgot: http://itotallyforgot.com/2009/03/07/tales-summoning-of-spirits/
-thecapturedspy: http://thecapturedspy.livejournal.com/19028.html
-hackerguild: http://www.hackerguild.com/drupal/node/15
-Further Steps out of Phase: http://rand21althor.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/nintendo-power-v244-details/ (Quick mention of the NP article)

Forums/Public Communities:
-Threads at the Namco's official Tales forum: http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=77820 and http://tales.namco.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=2762153&sid=ce2dc41743ebbf00201e58309d107692
-Thread at GameSpot: http://www.gamespot.com/gamecube/rpg/talesofphantasia/show_msgs.php?topic_id=m-1-48470825&pid=561316&page=0
-Thread at ngEmu: http://forums.ngemu.com/game-console-discussion/119294-new-oc-remix-album-released-summoning-spirits.html
-Thread at Zona Pixel forums (Spanish): http://www.zonapixel.es/foro/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1777
-Thread at fireemblem.net (Chinese): http://bbs.fireemblem.net/read.php?tid=183042
-Thread at TGFC (Chinese): http://club.tgfc.com/thread-6056039-1-1.html
-Thread at talesofsymphonia.forumfree.net (Italian): http://talesofsymphonia.forumfree.net/?t=37502202
-Thread at RPGMakerBrasil (Portuguese): http://www.rpgmakerbrasil.com/forum/f36/novo-projeto-do-oc-remix-17884.html
-Thread at Tales-of-All (German): http://tales-of-all.de/board/thread.php?threadid=2895
-Thread at GameFAQs ToS:DoTNW board: http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/genmessage.php?board=942210&topic=48499817
-girl_gamers LiveJournal community: http://community.livejournal.com/girl_gamers/4584796.html
-gamemusicfans LiveJournal community: http://community.livejournal.com/gamemusicfans/247995.html
-namco_tales LiveJournal community: http://community.livejournal.com/namco_tales/80207.html
-Last.fm OCR community: http://www.lastfm.com.tr/group/OverClocked+Remix/forum/26051/_/475039

Other:
-Full album on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4W2kBanj0mw&feature=PlayList&p=8B2258B45938E771&index=0&playnext=1
-On VGMdb: http://vgmdb.net/album/8756
-Rexy's 'Summoning of Spirits' on Remix:ThaSauce: http://remix.thasauce.net/song/RTS0165/
-SoS on Last.FM: http://www.last.fm/music/Various+Artists/http%253A%252F%252Ftales.ocremix.org%2B-%2BSummoning%2Bof%2BSpirits
-SoS Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/pages/Summoning-of-Spirits/70211869136?ref=nf

[Liontamer]

You da best, mayne. You deed it!

[WillRock]

Will be checkin it out soon enough :P

I look forward to a great listen.

[SnappleMan]

Congrats. :D

[SnappleMan]

Wow... nobody else cares yet?

[KyleJCrb]

The front page annoucement just went up. Relax. :-P

[Subz1987]

Awesome! Nice to see this project finally come out!

Listening to the album right now, although I'll have to finish it tomorrow since it's midnight right now where I am

[OverCoat]

yo dawg just a heads up

404s on these 4 things under "downloads"
BT-SoS-Soraya-AutumnSpiritsWhisper(ForestofTheTreant)-WIP.mp3
BT-SoS-Soraya-SilencetheMemories(RaisingACurtain)-WIP.mp3
BT-SoS-akumajobelmont-MyWayWithYou(Arche)-WIP.mp3
SoS-Joker-ColdMemoryAlternateVersion(Freeze).mp3

Glad to be a part of something complete for once.

[Lunarfall]

wtf am I dreaming?

i bet they're all bloodhounds

[KyleJCrb]

yo dawg just a heads up

404s on these 4 things under "downloads"
BT-SoS-Soraya-AutumnSpiritsWhisper(ForestofTheTreant)-WIP.mp3
BT-SoS-Soraya-SilencetheMemories(RaisingACurtain)-WIP.mp3
BT-SoS-akumajobelmont-MyWayWithYou(Arche)-WIP.mp3
SoS-Joker-ColdMemoryAlternateVersion(Freeze).mp3

Glad to be a part of something complete for once.

Problem seems to be entirely with the capitalization of the filenames. We'll get it fixed up. In the meantime: http://capillon.iiens.net/sos/release/bonus/

EDIT: All fixed!

[OverCoat]

Jesus Christ 5 hours of music what in the goddam hell

[The Joker]

holy crap! you mean, we actually released this mother sucker(tm)!!!! I'm so stoked. It really has been a wonderfull experience working with these guys, now I get's to hear the finals versions, & I'm a gonna write another post in this here.

[LuketheXjesse]

Hooray! dfgjfjgfgjf

[PriZm]

Congrats to everyone ! I think this project kicks serious ass. Especially Kyle for never giving up on his vision and motivating us till the end.

[The Mutericator]

Oh god downloading at the speed of light.

[SnappleMan]

I'll say it again, bad idea to open with your strongest track.

[Monobrow]

Yay finally jezzzzzeeeezzz

[Didaji]

Downloading the album now :)

[K.B.]

I attained instant nirvana.

[JAXX]

excellent. I am downloading right now. It's cool to see a project like this come through.

[pu_freak]

Yea, we're finally released!


Now I have to find another excuse not to have a life ;)

[Txai]

This project features the following:

Protricity's drum beat in a track called 'Altar Perception'

Ok. Good job.

[NDN_Shadow]

This is my first post on OCRemix. I've got to say, I've been lurking around OCRemix for a couple of years now. I was first brought to this site when the project was still in it's early stages a couple of years ago when I was crazy about Tales of Symphonia and it's music.

As time passed I would end up remembering about this project and checked this site often to see whether it had actually progressed. I was egged on by the special preview tracks such as "Beyond Absentminded" and "Koan of Drums" and visited OCRemix much more often seeing the site more as what it was intended for.

That said, one of the only reasons why I came here was for the project, and over the last several months, I lurked on the project thread almost everyday to check for any signs of the impending release. With this release I'm estatic.

I haven't listened to all the tracks yet, but I'm loving it so far. Excellent work to all the staff, you've encouraged me to join the OCR Community.

[pu_freak]

I'm glad you like it :)

[Rexy]

Hell yes, glad to see this thing is out!

On behalf of the musicians, I say thank you Kyle and Lea for putting up with us all for so long and keeping us stimulated all the way. Your dedication is sure to show once I boot up the first track for it - the opening FotS arrangement and all.
(lol, who cares if Sixto gets all the chicks, I'm still proud of my take on it :D)

Anyway, if I were living down the street from you, I'd pass on a bouquet of flowers to say thank you, but for now, here's to having your great ambition hosted on OCR at long last :)

[Didaji]

Jesus Christ 5 hours of music what in the goddam hell

5 hours?

I have downloaded the album in .rar and it was 3 hours 53 minutes and 51 seconds and its on 53 tracks like its on the website. Weird.

Started to listen to the album now, very nice. Good job! :)

[Monobrow]

I'm glad I can finally hear the songs of people that are on this project besides mine, because seriously I was so damn curious and there were so many dead links!

Also yeah, thanks Kyle and Lea, you guys had the best project ever. Seriously, no drama, such friendly faces, no politics, that's how a project should always be run.

:J

[pu_freak]

5 hours?

I have downloaded the album in .rar and it was 3 hours 53 minutes and 51 seconds and its on 53 tracks like its on the website. Weird.

Started to listen to the album now, very nice. Good job! :)

There's a whole lot of bonus tracks up for grabs on the album site, which bring the total to about 5 hours

[OverCoat]

Hey Kyle also

update my site link I haven't used neutronstar in years

soundtempest.net/soc/


por favor

[JH Sounds]

No "Off-key"?

:sad:

[Monobrow]

I gotta tell you, 'Desert Nights' is the most unexpected genre choice EVER.

I love you Usa haha

edit: oddamnit there I go again new topic page!

[Rexy]

Katie, you klutz :)

Somehow, I'm intrigued on how Joker and Lea put "Momentary" together. Was it a case of Lea's arrangement and Joker's production work, or is it something entirely different?

[SwordBreaker]

Congrats on the release, guys. Long overdue, indeed.

I'm on dial-up right now so I'm going to check this stuff out as soon as my DSL comes back on. I'm sure that I won't be disappointed.

[The Joker]

Somehow, I'm intrigued on how Joker and Lea put "Momentary" together. Was it a case of Lea's arrangement and Joker's production work, or is it something entirely different?

Kinda. Lea did the majority of the arrangement, but it lacked dynamics & an ending. So, that's where I came in, I just polished what she had, added an ending, & produced the thing. It's still pretty much her baby, though.

[Rozovian]

Argh, at work, can't listen.

....So now it's out. We've had VotL, RotC, SSFIITHDROST, BotA, DQD and more... Do we call this SoS:AAoMfToPaToS or...?

[Didaji]

There's a whole lot of bonus tracks up for grabs on the album site, which bring the total to about 5 hours

WoW Thanks, I didnt see that :) Total now is 78 tracks and 5 hours 11 minutes and 51 seconds :D

Im on track 27 now and its awesome, whole album seems to be awesome :)

[KyleJCrb]

Check out our interview on Higher Plain Music (http://highermusic.wordpress.com/2009/03/07/whispers-of-the-plains-interviews-with-overclocked-remix-project-leaders/)!

[Dunther]

OMG OMG! Now I must hurry to finish the two Tales of!!!

[prophetik music]

dling now. i'll seed at my highest capacity for as long as we need it =)

looking forward to hearing this one. there's so much bloody music on here! and actually, besides my project, this is the first completed project i've assisted with.

[Zombie]

Fuck yeah. I've been exited for this for a while now. Awesome to see it's finally out!

[Gollgagh]

heh, took long enough

[Sou]

Spread the word through my site for OCR! Torrenting it currently as I type this:<

[LuIzA]

goddamn it's been some time haha.

Congrats to everyone on this fine project. it rocks.

[WillRock]

Been listening to it, the quality of the mixes is superb, and its VERY consistent. Congrats for releasing such a great album.

[Suki_kitty]

*heard about it via e-mail*

This TOTALLY made my day! Congratulations!

[Bahamut]

So...is that Brad singing on his As Time Goes On track?

Also, been liking it so far...good job people!

[Fishy]

Ok seriously, what the hell. I don't even REMEMBER doing any of the three tracks I'm supposedly on!

Nice to see its finally out though, nice one :p.

[Power Smoothie]

I got the torrent this morning and had it on on the way to work <3 I'm only about 4 tracks in, but so far it's been great :D

I've never actualy played ToP before, but I loved ToS. Looking forward to the second half!

[kurokikaze01]

Long time lurker, I don't really post much but I feel like I have to for this one... The album is awesome.

[Eckerson]

Truly nice work. I've never gotten far into ToP, but the Tales series is one of the few RPGs I still get.

I'll be listening to this as soon as my torrent finishes. And like the last two, I will seed this to keep those downloads quick.

[SephAguraki]

This makes me feel happy that I bothered you guys in the project thread.

And you are all even more awesome than before because you even did some Ratatosk tracks.

[prophetik music]

i would have figured you'd be lurking the RSS feed constantly until this project got posted. you posted in the thread more than anyone else, just about, except kyle.

[SephAguraki]

You wouldn't believe how much of a surprise it was for me to check my email and then instantly rush to the OCR main page to see if it was a joke or not.

That aside, I've only heard one track because my internet is slow... 8[

[reelmojo]

I've only listened to "Strike of the Devil's Axes" and "Beyond Absentminded" so far, the later of which I've had for a long time. I can't wait to hear the rest though. Congrats to everyone involved. I'll be seeding for a while.

[KyleJCrb]

i would have figured you'd be lurking the RSS feed constantly until this project got posted. you posted in the thread more than anyone else, just about, except kyle.

I'm such a postwhore.



Glad to hear folks are enjoying the project so far!

[Azreous]

Man, this took so long to come out that I went from lurker to finally registering to lurker again. Ironically cyclical. (EDIT: Look, it's been so long that my signature is broked'd. Aw.)

Still, it was well worth the wait. Congrats, guys/gals.

[MarkShark]

What a treat to hop on the computer to! Loving it so far!
Bonus tracks from Dawn of the New World, very nice touch.

[SephAguraki]

I finally got all of the tracks, and I have this to say...

Only OCR can make a 24 second victory theme into a 3 minute and 38 second song.

[Twilight in Zero]

Holy crap, this actually came out!!! I must be in the Twilight Zone or something!

I've lurked the thread since my sophomore year of high school (sophomore in college, now). I've died a little inside every time the release date was postponed. I've steamed inside (only a little bit) whenever a joke was made about the release date being so far off.

And now the project is finally, actually out. I'm absolutely ecstatic.

Massive congratulations to all of you. Seriously.

But don't ever take so long to release a project again. ;P

[KyleJCrb]

But don't ever take so long to release a project again. ;P

We already have. (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=2845)

Only OCR can make a 24 second victory theme into a 3 minute and 38 second song.

Err? Which one is that?

[Thin Crust]

Go the Distance by Sixto isn't letting me download. Is there a problem?

[SephAguraki]

Phantasia's victory theme (Project song "Just Go"). Symphonia's is 40 seconds long.

[KyleJCrb]

Phantasia's victory theme (Project song "Just Go"). Symphonia's is 40 seconds long.

You think I'd know that, but I think Nutritious chose Go A Step Further on his own. I'd forgotten what the original sounded like.

Go the Distance by Sixto isn't letting me download. Is there a problem?

Same problem that was with some of the bonus tracks earlier; "the" in the link is capitalized when it shouldn't be. I'll get djpretzel on it. In the meantime: http://kngi.org/talesproject/site/release/ratatosk/BT03-SoS-Go_The_Distance_(I%27ll_Go).mp3

EDIT: It's all fixed up.

[Thin Crust]

It works. Thanks.

[Ciran]

I've been lurking for about 2 years and I was really surprised when I got an email today which said that the project was released ^^ I totally didn't expect this, thought we had to wait for at least 3 more months.

This really made my day. The album is awesome!

[Murmeli Walan]

Let me send my congratulations to both Kyle and Lea for the release of SoS. It's been a very long time coming, and it's been more than worth the wait so far from what I've heard of the album.

[Murmeli Walan]

I'm seeding this one for as long as I can. I've just finished up the first Disc, and the music is just absolutely amazing. I won't lie, I haven't played either game, so my excitement for the album was really low. I can tell from the music, though, that I've been missing out. Nice Work, Kyle and Lea!

[mrnerdhair]

I just downloaded the torrent, and I noticed that my CD Burning utility wouldn't burn some of the FLAC files, and Audacity wouldn't open them either, so I ran FLACTester on the whole FLAC directory and got a FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_UNPARSEABLE_STREAM error on 107-SoS-Setting_Sail_(Hydropolis).flac and 308-SoS-Pain_Withstanding_(Standing_the_Pain).flac. Is there some magic I can do to fix these files, as they play fine, and according to the torrent, their hash checks out?

[andyjayne]

Haven't been around for a few years but got an e-mail from someone saying they saw my photo on the album's site today - I have no idea how you got hold of a photo of me.

Cool to see this is finally out anyway - I'll take a listen some time later this month. Can't even remember what it was I did (it was 4 years ago).

So much for all those haters in the old thread who said it would never come out.

[SnappleMan]

Well, of course it was gonna come out, that was never the question ;)

[KyleJCrb]

Haven't been around for a few years but got an e-mail from someone saying they saw my photo on the album's site today - I have no idea how you got hold of a photo of me.

Magic. (http://www.facebook.com)

I just downloaded the torrent, and I noticed that my CD Burning utility wouldn't burn some of the FLAC files, and Audacity wouldn't open them either, so I ran FLACTester on the whole FLAC directory and got a FLAC__STREAM_DECODER_UNPARSEABLE_STREAM error on 107-SoS-Setting_Sail_(Hydropolis).flac and 308-SoS-Pain_Withstanding_(Standing_the_Pain).flac. Is there some magic I can do to fix these files, as they play fine, and according to the torrent, their hash checks out?

Try using the FLAC Installer (included with the torrent) to install the FLAC UI, and decode those songs into .wavs, and then burn those. Should work.

[mrnerdhair]

Thanks, that worked. I'd actually tried that and gotten a "File/path access error" from the FLAC Frontend, so for anyone else with the same problem and running under Vista with UAC enabled, take note that you may have to run the FLAC Frontend as an administrator.

[prophetik music]

ah, vista...

[Thin Crust]

Well, of course it was gonna come out, that was never the question ;)

It is with the OCR Mascot Bio Project.

[mrnerdhair]

Thanks, that worked. I'd actually tried that and gotten a "File/path access error" from the FLAC Frontend, so for anyone else with the same problem and running under Vista with UAC enabled, take note that you may have to run the FLAC Frontend as an administrator.
Ok, so I spoke too soon. For some reason I couldn't burn the resulting WAV file either, as my burning program didn't recognize it either. So, I opened it in Audacity and exported it as WAV, which for some reason produced a noticibly lower-bitrate file, but which would burn successfully.

[KyleJCrb]

That is odd. Anyone else having trouble with the FLACs?

[42]

I've really been enjoying listening to the bonus/alt tracks as I download via torrent.
I especially love the Mario Paint mixes :lol:

From what I've listened, it's mind blowing, and I can't wait to check out the rest of the album.

Also, thank you all for posting lyrics for the tracks that have them. :-D
It can be annoying to listen to something and not have anything to follow along with.

[Nutritious]

Phantasia's victory theme (Project song "Just Go"). Symphonia's is 40 seconds long.

Hey, glad you liked it (I think?). To be fair, though there is some Go Over Adversity also mixed in the middle as a breakdown/bridge - hence the title. Looks like that source listing didn't make it on the website. It should be when it hits the OCR front page I think.

[Orange Pylon]

Never played a Tales game before, but I'm enjoying the hell out of this album. Nice work as always, OCR. I pimped it over at Shacknews, which should spike the popularity a little bit.

[Aninymouse]

Holy fucking shit guys, it's out!

CONGRATUFUCKINGLATIONS YOU PULLED IT OFF!!

Job well done, people.

brb downloading

[SephAguraki]

I...I have to ask...

Is Raising a Curtain not on this because it's in Dawn of the New World as the "overworld" theme?

[KyleJCrb]

No, it's not on this because the remixes I tried to get of it never got finished. I do have one by andyjayne that retrospectively should've been a bonus track, but I forgot about it until recently.

Could still add it, though...

[LuigiFan]

I'm definitely enjoying this. All the mixes are great, even though some of them are probably a little old. :P That's actually interesting - I can tell with some of them that the ReMixers have changed they way they do things since they first made the mixes. Even so, it's all VERY high quality, and I'm definitely enjoying it. Looking forward to listening to the second half.

[42]

Could still add it, though...

Yes please.
That'd be awesome.
Kthxbai.

[SephAguraki]

Yes please.
That'd be awesome.
Kthxbai.

Agreed.

Name it under "Aselia 4304" or something.

[OverCoat]

You know what I just realized?

no one did Mystic Forest

FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUU-

I probably should've been paying attention. I would've done it. Hell, I already did for VGMix 2, but the quality is a bit lacking. I could've just remade that.

[Otakatt]

<3 <3

So far, awesome. Great job~

[Nutritious]

Ok seriously, what the hell. I don't even REMEMBER doing any of the three tracks I'm supposedly on!

Nice to see its finally out though, nice one :p.

Maybe because it took you about 5 minutes to record the guitars on our collab? :)

[Fishy]

lol, probably, I didn't even know it was for Tales at the time. I was genuinely suprised to learn I was on three songs. Could've doen a lot better now on some though, I think Apogee was done in 2006.

[Lexis_saia]

OMG! I've been waiting this for months!! X3 And it's great, congratulations ^^ You even remixed dry tail, my fav music piece from tos' soundtrack *__*

no one did Mystic Forest

I know T_T But hey, that doesn't mean there won't be a mystic remix cover ever :D (OR you can listen to Edvard Grieg's morning good (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PAbwMGZtIsY), which sounds pretty much the same)

[Otakatt]

I really, really dig the arrangement of Colette's theme, Smile and Forgive. It's one of my favorite pieces on this album, if not my favorite. :s Which is weird, since her original theme is okay and all, but I was never like ZOMG about it.

Semi-related: SephAguraki's signature frightens me.

[evktalo]

Just finished listening to disc one, and I genuinely liked portions of it. :> Congrats on getting the project out of the door! I'm looking forward to hearing the rest of the discs.

--Eino

[KyleJCrb]

Thanks again for the feedback, everyone. Be sure to keep an eye on the first post: I'm grabbing all sorts of notable links from around the web about the project and posting them there!

[SephAguraki]

no one did Mystic Forest


No one did Full Force, either...I like Full Force...

[Darkflamewolf]

yes, I third that addition of raising the curtain. Great job on a project well done! Its been a LONG time, but I'm finally glad to see it out!

EDIT: yay, new page bumper! :D

EDIT2: It also seems people want more tracks added to the project, maybe it could be an ongoing project? Where the major 'bulk' is already released, but people can add more as the months go on? :D

[KyleJCrb]

EDIT2: It also seems people want more tracks added to the project, maybe it could be an ongoing project? Where the major 'bulk' is already released, but people can add more as the months go on? :D

Uh...No. SoS is done as far as I'm concerned. If more people want to do ToP/ToS remixes though and get them on OCR, I certainly won't complain.

And Full Force? More like Full Farce. We went for the better battle themes. :-P

[pu_freak]

Yea, SoS has been an ongoing project for far too long :P We have something complete now, but I hope this is not the end of the Tales mixes

[SephAguraki]

And Full Force? More like Full Farce. We went for the better battle themes. :-P

:cry: Okay...

Yea, SoS has been an ongoing project for far too long :P We have something complete now, but I hope this is not the end of the Tales mixes

I'd love to see some Tales of Eternia and Tales of the Abyss mixes be submitted...

And I have to comment...that Apogee is epically beautiful...Last Battle ~Decision~ is solidly my favorite Symphonia track.

[WillRock]

And Full Force? More like Full Farce. We went for the better battle themes. :-P

Full force was in my opinion the BEST battle theme :|

But whatever, the album is ace. I'm loving it so far, got past the first two discs :P

[Olschi]

Great album! \o/

My favorite pieces are Altar Perception, Continental Divide, Strike of the Devil's Axes, everything with Sixto involved, and escape from ene... never mind. :o

[KyleJCrb]

Full force was in my opinion the BEST battle theme :|

But whatever, the album is ace. I'm loving it so far, got past the first two discs :P

I'm not big on it personally. We did strongly consider it given that it is the first battle theme in the game, but other, more prominent battle themes won out.

[Rexy]

Enter my two pence on the whole Full Force argument. :)

When I first played Symphonia and heard the track as the core battle theme for Sylvarant, I initially thought it sounded catchy and it had me wondering why it wasn't covered. However, as Kyle pointed out, he ended up picking a lot of battle themes that managed to surprass it on a melodic and/or climatic level for this thing, and I have to agree with him on his selection.

Talking of which, "Keen Edged Blade" is one of MY favorite battle tracks in Symphonia. Silas's take, while cool to listen to from a project perspective, somehow seems to be rubbing shoulders with me as it sounds like a liberal take on the theme. Can anyone provide a source breakdown in case I'm missing something?

[SephAguraki]

I'm not big on it personally. We did strongly consider it given that it is the first battle theme in the game, but other, more prominent battle themes won out.

This is probably getting a bit annoying for you by now (Sorry... 8[ ), but no Symphonia overworld themes?

And I have no idea why but "Tales & Trials" vaguely reminds me of the Tales of the Abyss track "The place of relaxation".

[Rexy]

This is probably getting a bit annoying for you by now (Sorry... 8[ ), but no Symphonia overworld themes?

That kind of annoyed me too, but at least I did something about it (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15915). :)

[Hemophiliac]

And I have no idea why but "Tales & Trials" vaguely reminds me of the Tales of the Abyss track "The place of relaxation".

I had never heard that song until now, and i can kinda see why you might think that. Similar choices made in orchestration and whatnot.

[SephAguraki]

That kind of annoyed me too, but at least I did something about it (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15915). :)

Awesome, I will check this out.

[KyleJCrb]

Enter my two pence on the whole Full Force argument. :)

When I first played Symphonia and heard the track as the core battle theme for Sylvarant, I initially thought it sounded catchy and it had me wondering why it wasn't covered. However, as Kyle pointed out, he ended up picking a lot of battle themes that managed to surprass it on a melodic and/or climatic level for this thing, and I have to agree with him on his selection.

Talking of which, "Keen Edged Blade" is one of MY favorite battle tracks in Symphonia. Silas's take, while cool to listen to from a project perspective, somehow seems to be rubbing shoulders with me as it sounds like a liberal take on the theme. Can anyone provide a source breakdown in case I'm missing something?

It's very liberal, but what I think silas did was mainly base the track on the section at :38 in the original, and if you listen to the rhythm/bassline, there are some similarities, although obviously the remix is much, much slower.

This is probably getting a bit annoying for you by now (Sorry... 8[ ), but no Symphonia overworld themes?

I will admit, this was kind of an oversight on our part. We had a tough time paring down the Symphonia side of the project, considering there are so many good original tracks there, and we did leave out a few that in retrospect, we shouldn't have. Luckily, we'll be adding Showroom Dummy's remix from PRC119 (which Rexy just linked to), along with a few more bonus tracks that I found to the website soon.

[SephAguraki]

Kyle, you are awesome and how can I throw my money-- erm, how can I thank you for being so awesome?

[KyleJCrb]

Kyle, you are awesome and how can I throw my money-- erm, how can I thank you for being so awesome?

Spread the word and post the project link around, get more people to Digg the album, and if you want to pay someone, donate to OCR. That's all.

[Fishy]

And I have to comment...that Apogee is epically beautiful...Last Battle ~Decision~ is solidly my favorite Symphonia track.

aw :)

I remember rushing the guitar stuff together in december 2006 around christmas because Kyle was pressing the final wav deadline of 7th Jan 2007 or something.

lulz

[KyleJCrb]

aw :)

I remember rushing the guitar stuff together in december 2006 around christmas because Kyle was pressing the final wav deadline of 7th Jan 2007 or something.

lulz

I was pushing the final .wav deadline for May '06, really. Of course we failed epically. But oh well, it's here now and that's all that matters.

[pu_freak]

Well I don't mind, otherwise I wouldn't have been part of this project

[Arek the Absolute]

Good suff guys. Definitely a great project.

[prophetik music]

boy - between fisheh, prizm and sixto there's some SERIOUS shredding going on from some of my fav guitarists on this site.

[KyleJCrb]

boy - between fisheh, prizm and sixto there's some SERIOUS shredding going on from some of my fav guitarists on this site.

First people who got PMs from me were guitarists. In case you couldn't tell and all.

[pu_freak]

Kyle you aren't a... rock-fan, are you?

[Otakatt]

That kind of annoyed me too, but at least I did something about it (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=15915). :)

:O

I have to wonder why I'm not keeping an eye on PRC... I guess I'm crazy. >>; *bookmarks*

[Moguta]

Nice work, guys! Have been eagerly anticipating SoS's release. Haven't listened to it much yet, so I'll have to let you know my more-detailed opinion after some (hopefully) smooth headphone jammin'. :-)

[KyleJCrb]

Rexy's 'Summoning of Spirits' has been posted to Remix:ThaSauce. Hooray! http://remix.thasauce.net/song/RTS0165/

[prophetik music]

wait, she did the same project at the same time?

[KyleJCrb]

wait, she did the same project at the same time?

No, her song titled 'Summoning of Spirits'.

[XZero]

Just wanted to say great work to all of those involved in this project. This is almost four hours of pure bliss, and it's great to hear ReMixes from a generally under-appreciated series like Tales. Great work!

[prophetik music]

No, her song titled 'Summoning of Spirits'.

all that bullshit in the project thread, and you can't see it coming yet?

[NDN_Shadow]

Only OCR can take one of the sadder songs in Dawn of a New World and make it into a pop-rock masterpiece.

Regarding songs like "No Better Time Than Now" and "Beyond Absentminded", is there any place where we can view the lyrics?

[KyleJCrb]

Only OCR can take one of the sadder songs in Dawn of a New World and make it into a pop-rock masterpiece.

Regarding songs like "No Better Time Than Now" and "Beyond Absentminded", is there any place where we can view the lyrics?

Yup, there are links to each set of lyrics under the song in the Music section, or you can just go here: http://tales.ocremix.org/lyrics.html

[NDN_Shadow]

Yup, there are links to each set of lyrics under the song in the Music section, or you can just go here: http://tales.ocremix.org/lyrics.html
I completely missed that. Thanks.

[Rexy]

all that bullshit in the project thread, and you can't see it coming yet?

Either that, or pretty much all four of my subs were TOSE-style ninja developments, or something. O.O
Thanks for spreading the word Kyle :D

[Kagato]

I've been waiting for this release for a long, long time. I've kept an eye on it and silently watched and waited. Finally, all that waiting has paid off, and I have to say...I think I might have placed too high of an expectation on this project....There were some tracks that were "nailed," but a great majority of tracks just didn't feel right at all. I'll go over several songs I felt had a big impact on me, positively or negatively.

One big example was Holy Judgement, which sounded unfinished. I was expecting this remix to blow me away after such a dramatic buildup, but it turned into a very loud and "twangy" electric guitar with very little and very quiet percussion to go with it. It sounded like 3 instruments were missing. I was hoping there'd be more to it that was really "in my face," but the entire song felt like just one big build-up with no true climax. The epic opening first minute was great, at least. I just wish the rock portion was more complete and polished. The voice clips were great though.

Strike of the Devil's Axes was actually pretty good. Best Fatalize remix I've heard. Seriously nothing to complain about.

The Unholy Wars was really good...at first. And then that damn synthesizer came in. The song sounded like a stage out of Mega Man X. It was a good remix, but it didn't blow me away like I was hoping. For what it was, though, it's good.

Dark Corner was a big disappointment too. I can understand if it was a remix to Mithos' theme, but not the fight theme. Not to mention, it just sounds like a cluttered mess. It's like it has no structure. Most of the song didn't even sound like the track the remix is based off of. When I was expecting some kind of big finish, it just tapers off. Possibly my least favorite remix on the Symphonia side of the remixes.

Antegenesis was bizarre. Most of the time, I couldn't tell if the song was a remix or an original track with touches of "beat the angel" thrown in. It wasn't as cluttered as Dark Corner since it finally picks up into a good remix of it's original song during bits and pieces, but then it goes back to being...a "blues" song? Sorry...just not what I was expecting...or liked.

I loved Dream Traveler. It was a faithful remix to Presea's theme. It was sad, slow, calm, and easily recognizable. I think it could have been a tad bit faster in tempo, but overall it was good and an easy listen. I enjoyed it.

Apogee rocked. Period. End of story. One of the best on the symphonia tracks hands down. Loved it.

Ain't Yo Fool (Stay Cool) was both good and bad. I liked how upbeat and "stylish" it was. It was a fun song and happy to listen to, but the biggest problem I had with it is that it's hard to recognize the source song it came from. Unless I had been told it was Zelos' theme song, I never would have guessed.

Determination is good, but lacks any real climax. While listening to it, I was thinking "this is awesome. Ok, the big climax is coming up in a few seconds..." and then the song was over. It still sounded very ninja-ish and I could hear the source material clearly.

Chaotic Heart was a blast! It was just plain fun to listen to and it was obviously Raine. No confusion if I wasn't told what it was based off of. It was just the right sound, the right beat, the right use of instruments. It sort of reminded me of the 80's too. It was awesome. Kudos are in order for Sixto. This is one of my favorite tracks in the whole album.

This Fate actually sounds like it was a professional remix taken from a game with him included in the scene. It was heroic, his theme music is easily noticed, and it was calm, perfectly suited for a character's theme music. Very nicely done.

Crisis Healing Salve was a turn-off...at first. But then, this song actually hit a climax mid-way with the electric guitar. It wasn't just an all-buildup, no payoff song. It was actually really good! I liked it.

Arche Angel was heroic. Very Heroic.... Too heroic. Ok, it was good. I liked it a lot, but it didn't sound like it was something based off Arche. Still, for what it was, it was really good and would definitely be great theme music for someone.

Simplified Design was far too heavy, but the source of the theme music it was based off of was clear as day and, in the end, it wasn't bad. I'd say it was missing a few instruments in there overall to give it more depth. I think the best part was when the piano cut in all of a sudden, breaking up the loud with some calm, dramatic softness (though the piano keys sounded a bit flat....)

Just Go is what I like to call epic. This song blew me away in...well...everything! It was very epic-sounding and it was almost dream-like with that excellent instrument use. It's quite possibly the best track on the Phantasia side, if not the entire album. Very excellent work, composers. This one is a job well done.

New Technology was surprisingly addicting. It was very evil-sounding and was very appropriate towards the source music it came from. It fits perfectly in a computerized area and it was fun to listen to mostly. The ending got a bit irritating though.


Thats about all I'm gonna cover. You guys get the basic idea. I found some good, some bad, some awesome, and some a great disappointment. Out of all of them, Holy Judgement and Dark Corner were my biggest disappointments in the whole album. I was sad about that, but many other songs were great. Thanks for putting the time into all the tracks, however. I know it's not easy making these.

[evktalo]

Listened to the disc 2 last evening, and I genuinely liked even bigger portions than with disc 1. =) However, scattered among the tracks of the first half of the release, there's a large amount of note/chord choices that just sound wrong to me. Off-key, dissonant-in-a-bad-way, that sort of stuff. So many, that I am wondering if I've been just hearing things..

Disc 3 is sounding pretty good so far!

--Eino

[OverCoat]

The ending got a bit irritating though.

hahaha

made the song before I grew ears

it's not too bad but man, crazy metallic resonance

[prophetik music]

I've been waiting for this release for a long, long time. I've kept an eye on it and silently watched and waited. Finally, all that waiting has paid off, and I have to say...I think I might have placed too high of an expectation on this project....There were some tracks that were "nailed," but a great majority of tracks just didn't feel right at all. I'll go over several songs I felt had a big impact on me, positively or negatively.

not every project is votl. thanks for contributing, though, i'm sure the mixers of the songs you didn't like appreciate the criticism.

[anosou]

lol, probably, I didn't even know it was for Tales at the time. I was genuinely suprised to learn I was on three songs. Could've doen a lot better now on some though, I think Apogee was done in 2006.

I don't care, WHY AREN'T YOU JUDGING INSTEAD OF POSTING HERE!? :tomatoface:

[prophetik music]

i picked this up yesterday and have been seeding at 70kbps nonstop since then, got about 5.6gb uploaded so far. great work, from what i've heard!

[KyleJCrb]

Off-key, dissonant-in-a-bad-way, that sort of stuff.

Hmm, which tracks in particular? There are a few intentionally "bad" notes in 'Simplified Design', and 'New Technology' has some rough spots, but I can't think of any others.

I've been waiting for this release for a long, long time. I've kept an eye on it and silently watched and waited. Finally, all that waiting has paid off, and I have to say...I think I might have placed too high of an expectation on this project....There were some tracks that were "nailed," but a great majority of tracks just didn't feel right at all. I'll go over several songs I felt had a big impact on me, positively or negatively.

Now that's what I'm talkin' about. Thanks for the massive feedback! While I don't necessarily agree that Pacaud and PriZm disappointed ('Holy Judgement' for me especially is one of the most epic songs on the album), I understand what they do isn't necessarily to everyone's tastes (which I typically expect from progressive rock in general). Regardless, I'm glad you did enjoy a good portion of what we did. This is the kind of feedback I'd like to see more of.

[Rexy]

I loved Dream Traveler. It was a faithful remix to Presea's theme. It was sad, slow, calm, and easily recognizable. I think it could have been a tad bit faster in tempo, but overall it was good and an easy listen. I enjoyed it.
Wow, thank you :smile: I somehow saw it as one of my more experimental compositions for this thing, but I'm really glad to see that it's paid off.

Concerning the general feedback given, we as a team appreciate the message that you provided. Course, as Brad said, not every project is going to be like that FF7 project from a few months back in terms of production level, but that's not the point. What kept us stimulated is doing justice to an otherwise undercovered RPG series, and if the feedback from this thing is good, then we'd see it as a success.

Again, thanks very much for your post, much appreciated :smile:

[Nutritious]

Just Go is what I like to call epic. This song blew me away in...well...everything! It was very epic-sounding and it was almost dream-like with that excellent instrument use. It's quite possibly the best track on the Phantasia side, if not the entire album. Very excellent work, composers. This one is a job well done.

Hey, thanks for the compliments! Glad you liked it.

[Sir_NutS]

At last!

Grats kyle, and thanks to all the other remixers involved!

[Fishy]

I don't care, WHY AREN'T YOU JUDGING INSTEAD OF POSTING HERE!? :tomatoface:

BECAUSE I WAS AT MY GFs and posting takes like 10 seconds.

I can start judging in 10 seconds if you like?

[anosou]

BECAUSE I WAS AT MY GFs and posting takes like 10 seconds.

I can start judging in 10 seconds if you like?

lol sex and girls and stuff, lame :nicework:

[PriZm]

One big example was Holy Judgement, which sounded unfinished. I was expecting this remix to blow me away after such a dramatic buildup, but it turned into a very loud and "twangy" electric guitar with very little and very quiet percussion to go with it. It sounded like 3 instruments were missing. I was hoping there'd be more to it that was really "in my face," but the entire song felt like just one big build-up with no true climax. The epic opening first minute was great, at least. I just wish the rock portion was more complete and polished. The voice clips were great though.

Simplified Design was far too heavy, but the source of the theme music it was based off of was clear as day and, in the end, it wasn't bad. I'd say it was missing a few instruments in there overall to give it more depth. I think the best part was when the piano cut in all of a sudden, breaking up the loud with some calm, dramatic softness (though the piano keys sounded a bit flat....)


Thank you for taking time to comment on my tunes :)

I realize that not everybody can like them, but I always appreciate criticism, especially when it's constructive.

[prophetik music]

BECAUSE I WAS AT MY GFs and posting takes like 10 seconds.

I can start judging in 10 seconds if you like?

are you still dating the girl who's name was queenie or something equally odd? what did her name mean again?

[evktalo]

Hmm, which tracks in particular? There are a few intentionally "bad" notes in 'Simplified Design', and 'New Technology' has some rough spots, but I can't think of any others.


I'll get back on that in detail later. (And I kind of hope I'm not just crazy here.)

Disc three was very solid, with lots of goodies. One more to go!

--Eino

[Fishy]

lol, xiao xue, which means Snow Queen, but we call her Tina/Tini, and no :p.

[Rexy]

Somehow i have a feeling you'd potentially bring in "Middle-Aselia Biology" into the conversation with this. Let me stick up for it in advance and say that the crystal bell riff dissonating at times was present in the source material as well, so I thought it seemed natural to go with the flow.

...and that's another monkey off my back :p

[DJMetal]

Holy crap it's out! Guys, it's OUT! Yes! My days of torment and waiting are over! Seriously though, this project was well worth the wait. The music sounds great, and the lossless versions are Incredible. Much love. Seeding 4 life.

Now, back to waiting for the "Missingno Tracks".

[Azreous]

Hey Rexy, is that a coincidental or intentional reference to Brinstar Green from Super Metroid in "Summoning of Spirits"? (Mostly 1:31 to 1:47ish, since that piano progresses from that point on.) Just curious; it popped out at me the first time I listened through the album.

[42]

Quick question: what's the difference between the "No Better Time Than Now" in the album and the one alternate version for download? Thanks.

[Rexy]

Hey Rexy, is that a coincidental or intentional reference to Brinstar Green from Super Metroid in "Summoning of Spirits"? (Mostly 1:31 to 1:47ish, since that piano progresses from that point on.) Just curious; it popped out at me the first time I listened through the album.

That sounds like a total coincidence. "Summoninng of Spirits" the track was one of the first ones completed for the album. I had no idea that bLiNd would fall sick near the end of its development, if that's what you were trying to get at :oops:

[SargeSmash]

Awesome work, guys and gals. Been waiting on this one for a while, and it's nice to see this one came together so well.

From those of us incapable of remixing due to lack of time or talent, thanks for all the hard work!

[prophetik music]

keep dreaming, man.

edit: sorry, cain =(

[Nutritious]

Quick question: what's the difference between the "No Better Time Than Now" in the album and the one alternate version for download? Thanks.

The alternate version is the original "final" track. The album version was created after some feedback from the judging panel regarding source usage. They're still similar tracks, but several parts were rearranged and mixed differently for the main album version.

[KyleJCrb]

Hey Rexy, is that a coincidental or intentional reference to Brinstar Green from Super Metroid in "Summoning of Spirits"? (Mostly 1:31 to 1:47ish, since that piano progresses from that point on.) Just curious; it popped out at me the first time I listened through the album.

It's possible Rexy may have subconsciously slipped in some Super Metroid there, given that she loves that soundtrack and has done remixes of it previously. :-P

Our first review is out from View From Heaven (http://v-f-h.blogspot.com/2009/03/summoning-of-spirits.html)! Doesn't go very in-depth, but still a good read.

COE Weekly Podcast also plugged us this week (at about 1:20:44): http://odeo.com/episodes/24274444-COE-Weekly-Podcast-March-8th-2009

[evktalo]

Altar Perception was criminally good.. just amazing. There are a lot of really good tracks on this, but this was just.. I had to post this right away. Ridiculously well done guys.

Somehow i have a feeling you'd potentially bring in "Middle-Aselia Biology" into the conversation with this. Let me stick up for it in advance and say that the crystal bell riff dissonating at times was present in the source material as well, so I thought it seemed natural to go with the flow.

Nah, no problems there I think.

--Eino

[Olschi]

Yes, imo Altar Perception is the best track of the whole album.

[Dhsu]

Kudos to Kureejii on the killer trackname art, very impressive. :nicework:

[evktalo]

Ah yes, I've been meaning to compliment the art. I haven't looked at it thoroughly, but what I've seen (the site, the banners & the image in the first post) it's good, consistent and helps to create an atmosphere for the whole project. The use of colours is very tasteful. I very much like the pic in the first post (although the girl seems a bit she's like contemplating having a bite of the pan flute..). Good work there!

Okay, I think I'll try to do a track-by-track reviewing tour of the project. Note that I have no familiarity with the originals at all. Anyway, here we go with the first two tracks.

Disc 1, track 1: The Unholy Wars

Hard rock/heavy isn't generally my genre. I can sure recognize this as a good track it is, but it doesn't appeal to me much. All these relentlessly wailing leads.. gah!

There's a few spots that I particularly do like production-wise: 02:12 has this sort of a "ghost guitar" filling up a pause without crowding it, very nice. Also I always notice the sound in the background around 02:23 - it's very cool. I like the breakbeatish snare roll stuff that begins around 03:20 too.

Disc 1, track 2: Crisis Healing Salve

The track begins with a strong wind lead with a harpsichord kittering around it. The rhythmical complexity, especially when the double bass comes in, took a bit of listening to sink in (felt crowded on the first listen), but it's really rather intriguing.

The double bass writing has some off notes 00:30 and 00:33-00:34 that really throw me off. Rest of the part is good.

Somewhere along the line strings have blended in, and next the strings dissolve, with a pleasant surprise, into beautiful guitar tones (esp. the clean guitar). On the first listen, this was where I really started appreciating the track. The strings in the background don't mesh perfectly with the guitar (it even sounds they're slightly differently tuned), but that's nothing serious. I love that chord at 01:27. The oboe figure sounds unnecessary - I think it would have made a better impact with just space in that spot.

The rumbling bass (synth?) that starts at 01:30 I really like. Especially when it drops off at 01:40 - goosebumb time! Here the string writing works fantastically with the guitars, it's really beautiful.

Like with the oboe bit before, the string figure that starts at 02:13 feels extraneous. Either the bass goes off the key (badly), or the bass going the way it does combined with the string figure is to blame - but that's another "brown moment".

I like the random sounding start of the guitar solo. When the strings come in again 02:42, it's really quite grand. Here it irks me somewhat (but not too much) that the strings and guitar seem to be playing in completely different rooms. They have quite a different ambience.

In the (beautiful!) quieter part that begins around 03:00, there is no such problem. The sound that begins at 03:09 is.. evocative, and again 03:29.. mourning. The accompanying wind lead is beautiful as well.

At it's best - and that's the most of the track - a fantastic track and a coop that combines respective strengths of the two ReMixers. I have to stress that the brown moments really, really bother me; I hate having to endure them to hear the greatness of the rest of the track.

--Eino

[Kizyr]

Finally! I hope this was worth the wait.

I've listened to discs 1-3 so far, once through. I'd need to reserve my comments until I've had a little time longer to listen to it. But so far, I really like it. There are a couple of tracks here and there that aren't so memorable, and some that are outstanding. And, like with any album, I like seeing both new and old names on this one. The occasional vocal tracks are a nice bonus.

I'll probably be more biased towards the first two discs, since I've only played Tales of Phantasia (and I don't even have Tales of Symphonia). KF

[KyleJCrb]

Wow, the feedback is quite impressive, guys! Keep it coming!

Speaking of which, Higher Plain Music just dropped a nice track-by-track review on their site: http://highermusic.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/ocremix-summoning-of-spirits-review/

[Sindra]

I wrote a small article to promote not only this new album, but the community albums as a whole.

http://powet.tv/wordpress/2009/03/09/obscure-find-of-the-week-ocr-albums/

Hope it helps get the word out.

[42]

The alternate version is the original "final" track. The album version was created after some feedback from the judging panel regarding source usage. They're still similar tracks, but several parts were rearranged and mixed differently for the main album version.

First of all, thanks.

Second of all, I'm probably going backwards than everyone else, but I've been listening to the bonus, both released and unreleased, and alt tracks first; they're glimpses into a world of probability, are possibly fairly wacky/zany, and provide intriguing context for the rest of the album. I know these aren't exactly the meat and potatoes of the SoS, but there's still some gems in here that I don't want people to overlook.

CD 5

Track 1 [No Better Time Than Now]

I have to admit this is a incredibly freaking awesome song.
Very cool. I really like how it breaks in at 0:47 without loosing that piano and that techno-effect such as 2:30.
Don't miss out on this one.

Track 2 [Standing Up]

The slow pace to this song is nice and allows for the melody to come through.
Very relaxing with an undercurrent of quiet urgency.
It might just be me, but at the end as the drums become more prominent, they seem more out of place.

Track 3 [Go The Distance]

I don't really care for how the intro plays back and forth with my stereo, jumping between left and right.
Still, there is an impressive amount of high quality shreddage going on here. A tad too techno, but very Guitar Hero worthy.

Bonus Tracks (most of here on out is WIPs, so there's only so much I can say....)

Track 1 [Mint (Test Demo)]

I really like the guitar/jazz fusion direction this was going.
Since it's not technically finished, it isn't to flashy, but what is here is very good and worth checking out.

Track 2 [Drifting Into Dreaming]

Now this is nice, I really love the rippling effects in the intro.
It makes this piece feel fluid and organic, and it vaguely reminds me of something from Twilight Princess.

Track 3 [Raine (WIP)]

The jazzed up piano is really cool here. It's like dire techno-jazz.
It's an amalgam of many things, but it works out so well.
Still, the lead synth is probably a little overused and around 2:50 it gets a little rough for the ears, but it is just a WIP and, as such, is already pretty fantastic.

Track 4 [Hollowed Battleground (WIP)]

The intro sound like one of those plastic tubes with the noise makers that slide up and down as one flips it over and over.
Definitely march/military like, it unfortunately doesn't really expand on its theme until almost halfway through. Currently it's too percussion reliant, imho.

Track 5 [Battle Royale (WIP)]

This is definitely quirky and feels very deliberate.
It's obvious this was the groundwork for something greater, but when I heard the "Let's get ready to rumbaaaaalllll...." at 3:09
I
laughed
out
loud. :lol:
I wish this could have been developed further and made the cut.

Track 6 [Adventure Is All About Gold & Chicks (Instrumental)]

I could see this being played at some jazz lounge that Indiana Jones frequents. Very smooth, slick, and jet-setting.
It's a shame the xylophone wasn't introduced earlier though.
There isn't a whole lot going on here, but it works very well as a minimalist.

Track 7 [Fighting of the Spirit (Mario Paint Mix)]

Just listen to it. :lol:

Track 8 [Autumn Spirits Whisper (WIP)]

Nicely classical and ever so slightly melodramatic and contemplative. Its drawn out, yet absorbing. Though the sudden break at 2:04 tends to snap the listener back.

Track 9 [Silence the Memories (WIP)]

This track tries to be too many things at once, most prominently classical/jazz fusion.
It also doesn't help that the saxophone here sounds off/artificial.
As a WIP , a lot of this can be understood though.

Track 10 [Love Song (Test Demo)]

Yup, it's definitely a love song, or at least highly reminiscent of every stereotypical love song I've heard. Nothing much else going on here.

Track 11 [Old Familiar Scent of Iselia (Mario Paint Mix)]

This is you just need to listen to. :razz:

Track 12 [Old Familiar Scent of Iselia (Reggae Mix)]

Pleasepleaseplease, just turn this in to a full blown mix. :-D
This is most likely, singlehandedly, the best bonus track released.

Track 13/14 [Old Familiar Scent of Iselia (Symphonic Mix/ Trance Mix)

Both are delicious ~40 second snipits, which I wish were developed a little further.
The Symphonic Mix reminds me of LoZ: Wind Waker and I can't place the trance mix.

Track 15 [My Way with You (WIP)]

Imho, this track is a little o.0;
Having some techno voice repeat "having my with you" is not the most undisterbing thing.
Other than that, this is some nice lighthearted techno reminiscent of Breaking Benjamin.

Track 16 [Royal Treatment (Triumph)]

Very nice ivory manipulation here.
Just plain and simple, which can be very satisfying sometimes, like vanilla.

[KyleJCrb]

Track 5 [Battle Royale (WIP)]

This is definitely quirky and feels very deliberate.
It's obvious this was the groundwork for something greater, but when I heard the "Let's get ready to rumbaaaaalllll...." at 3:09
I
laughed
out
loud. :lol:
I wish this could have been developed further and made the cut.

Track 6 [Adventure Is All About Gold & Chicks (Instrumental)]

I could see this being played at some jazz lounge that Indiana Jones frequents. Very smooth, slick, and jet-setting.
It's a shame the xylophone wasn't introduced earlier though.
There isn't a whole lot going on here, but it works very well as a minimalist.

Both of these might seem repetitive and minimalistic since they were originally intended to have rap lyrics. I really wish they could've both been developed, especially Battle Royale, which intended to be an epic rap battle AND guitar solo battle in one song.

Anyway, glad to see the bonus tracks getting some review love! Thanks, 42.

[Monobrow]

Yes, imo Altar Perception is the best track of the whole album.

Altar Perception was criminally good.. just amazing. There are a lot of really good tracks on this, but this was just.. I had to post this right away. Ridiculously well done guys.

--Eino


Wow thanks a lot. IMO it's not the best but I'm really glad you guys liked it. I worked very hard on it and I got some amazing people to help me out (Prot with the percussion, AeroZ with the amazing cello, and injury's great and really quick on the fly vocal work)

I really appreciate the kind words dudes :J

Btw, I really really love Tepid and Prizm's Horizon song, holy shit that stuff is tight, goddamn.

[Rexy]

Speaking of which, Higher Plain Music just dropped a nice track-by-track review on their site: http://highermusic.wordpress.com/2009/03/09/ocremix-summoning-of-spirits-review/

Lol they capitalised Usa's name. He was well pissed with that back in the day.
Still, glad to see their support in their review :D

[evktalo]

I'm glad you guys appreciate the feedback.

Here's the next four tracks. This is going to take forever.. :P

Disc 1, track 3: The Koan of Drums

I find this track pretty cheesy; it reminds me of the Eurovision Song Contest.. Not really a favourite, the combination of the big drums, octave-pumping bassline, violin and flutes feels a bit gimmicky. As it is though, it's a very solid, melodic, driving track.

I do genuinely like the sound of those drums. Also the more minimal section after the first chorus, from 01:57 to 03:17 (and especially up to 2:10, plus the big drum break later) I can enjoy. I also appreciate how in the prechorus that follows (after 03:17) the bass doesn't yet do the octave thing, but reserves it for the last chorus - well done restraint/build-up thing. *makes notes for future use in own tracks*

Disc 1, track 4: Airborne

Happy little (maybe medium-sized) solo piano tune. Very relaxed feeling, slightly mischieveous even. The a-part reminds me of Super Mario World and the b-part reminds me of Ghibli films.. good stuff. And that's just the first half.. I like how 01:38-02:16 sounds contemplative, searching, from 02:16 on a resolution starts to form and the finale sounds decided and courageous. (I get Megaman and Shining Force vibes.) Sleeper hit potential in general and personally one of the definite highlights of the first disc.

Disc 1, track 5: Arche Angel

Segues nicely from the previous track as this starts with a solo piano. Very soon strings and orchestral percussion join in. I like the bittersweet feel of this brief track. I have gripes,
however - the sound of the strings and orchestra start way too big, they're already up to 10 when it would serve the track much better if it started with less velocity and grew towards the climax. (This might be difficult to achieve if the sample set only has the full throttle option but it doesn't make the crit less viable.) Or, keeping the strong start, it should be a lot more dynamic in the middle and end.

I think there's a similar problem with the writing - overall I get the feeling less would be more. It doesn't sound 100% deliberate, often the overall feel is like a bunch of notes thrown together, even if there was nothing obviously wrong in the parts themselves. I have a feeling the loudness of the instruments may have misinformed the writing to fill up the space more than it needed. When you have a full string section blaring and snare and cymbals splashing in the background, it's hard to get a few notes sound right. This is just speculation on my part but I hope it's helpful. It's what I think would happen to me. =)

I'll first tell what I like: the bittersweet feel is indeed tangible. I like the general progression and flow of the track, it has a discernible beginning, middle and end with their own feel (and the middle has it's own beginning, middle and end). I like the chord progression (no idea about what is in the source and what is original) - 00:28, chill-inducing. The cello/double bass figures that play up to 00:46 on the left are quite nice (slightly mechanical, but easily adequate).

I have most issues with the melodic/supporting melodic writing (Staccato strings and piano). There's good stuff too, no worries. Let's look at the staccato strings first, from start to 00:43. The first problem is that the sound itself is quite a loud, pronounced stab at the strings, and you use the hits rather sparsely. This gives it a mechanical and scattered feel and increases the sense of randomness. More velocities again, and having the same instrument play different sorts of notes (some longer) in their part might be good. 00:14-00:18 for instance - a good figure, but if the notes 2-6 (or say 2-4) were more continuous, it would sound far more natural.

00:23-00:28 these strings sort of disappear.. they should strongly sound a recognizable figure like ten seconds ago, rather than pluck at separate notes off somewhere. Then there's three notes of gold: 00:27-00:29 along with the chord change sounds SO GOOD! But alas, it doesn't evolve into a yearning little melody - more separate notes. 00:33-00:38 you have a good melody going, but the loud staccatto (combined with syncopation hurts), and the drums are pounding way too loud on top of them. How this part finishes 00:40-00:45 is very good although the drums distract me a bit. The again the cymbal wash sound at 00:46 is sounds extremely good.

00:46 begins a beautiful, calmer section. The piano writing is tricky to criticize - if I listen to the track just 00:46 on, I don't necessarily hear anything wrong with it (esp. the first four bars are beatiful), but when the track is taken as a whole, the constant eight notes without pauses up to 01:24 feel quite excessive. At times they sound great: 01:22-01:23 sounds great (there I'm actually expecting for it to go on longer, staying on the same note), and 01:07-01:11 does too. Rest sound frankly just weak and clutter up the track. The piano ends with calm chords, which works well otherwise, but I feel some of the chord choices for the piano complicate the serene/sad ending needlessly - at 01:34-01:38 specifically the piano should let the high strings work their part.

I enjoy the track despite my gripes, even if I feel I like listening to the idea rather than the execution. Even while I've written five paragraphs of crits, I feel the good outweighs the bad.

Disc 1, track 6: Chronometrical

Energetic electro, crystallic arpeggios and gorgeous strings. Good combo and it does sound great. The arrangement is pretty full all the time, nothing wrong with it but I'd love a sparser section somewhere, it could generally afford to take a bit more time to develop. For instance, the fadeout feels premature, I feel it could actually take the material to another go after that part - the first go could be less full and take it's time, and the second go could be the full-blown one that it is now. But the structure does work as it is as well.

There are some unfortunate brown moments in the string writing. Some of it might well be inteded dissonance, but it doesn't support the track. 01:46-01:47 is the first such moment. 01:51-01:55 sounds it might be dissonant as well, but that one totally works.

02:11 sounds very subtly (but still clearly) off. 02:27 sounds awful to me. The piano also grates my ears at that spot, around 02:25-02:27. There's another note on the piano around 02:38 that sounds like it's in the same vein, but doesn't bother me as much.

Strings are also perhaps a touch or two too prominent in the mix in my opinion. They do sounds gorgeous, but they would sounds so a little quieter, and repeated listening to them tires the ears. Otherwise, I love how this track sounds. The clock ticking is a very nice touch. It took me a several listens to notice it elsewhere than in the beginning.

Like with Crisis Healing Salve, I feel I have to endure a couple of bad spots (which do bother me) to be able to appreciate what is a very much a fine track.

Cheers!

--Eino

[Kureejii Lea]

Awesome, thanks!

[Kureejii Lea]

Kudos to Kureejii on the killer trackname art, very impressive. :nicework:

Oh, thanks! Obviously it's gonna take a backseat to the music, but I'm glad it was noticed.

[Red9]

Gonna go ahead and say (in a good way) the album put me to sleep....after the fourth time listening through it. Worth the wait unlike Too Human...
Great Job guys

[evktalo]

Took a closer look at the cover art folder. It's very beautiful. CD labels are neat too. I'd love to have this printed (the DVD case would be my choice).

All the ornament stuff is good too. I think the weakest link - while not too bad - is the pastel-like picture on the front page of the site. It's kind of unfortunate, as it sort of the first impression one gets when you go to the site, and the actual front cover art is much much better.

edit:
I had time for a few more.

Disc 1, track 7: Setting Sail

I love the sound of this. I in no way feel that I'm listening to a set of orchestral samples, it's just music. I get a very floaty feel, like it was a huge ball of mist. Err, cloud-like, yes. Perfectly evocative with the title. Every section is well defined and each one brings something new. I like the voices, for instance. Top-notch job.

Disc 1, track 8: Mirror Image

Another track that's both flawed and lovely. Let's focus on the lovely first, since this surely is one sweet track for me.

I love the instrumentation and sound choices. It's very pleasant to listen to, without lacking edge. The bass guitar sounds excellent, kind of.. dreamy. Ehh. What a way to describe a bass guitar sound, but there it is. I love how it has a lot of room, and it uses it. It's like it's the lead here before the (very good) guitar lead, and the (thin, but still adorable) organ in the middle.

There's a number of production issues. I don't really mind, but I'll point them out anyway. First off, the whole track begins like it cuts in from nowhere. There might even be a pop. The acoustic guitar is obviously sampled and the same sections are re-used. This is fine in itself, it's just very noticeable. It might be the room atmosphere/miking/EQ is not entirely consistent between the separate takes. Also, there's a very prominent glitch in the first chord of the section that plays e.g. at 00:08. Hearing it repeat is kind of funny.

I feel the rhythm electric guitar on the rocking part isn't the tightest. Instead of ringing out the full chords completely all the time, an approach that incorporated e.g. palm muting to it would have improved it a lot - some rhythmic and sound variation, stuff like that. It doesn't change at all according to the rest of the arrangement. It is also clearly sampled and reused again, which hilights the flaws. The stereo effect the little gaps have sound uncomfortable with headphones. The sound is perhaps too full, as it stands out of the mix a bit too prominently. I probably make it sound worse than it is, on the whole the part doesn't really bother me that much, just pointing out where there's room for improvement.

Again, there's a certain chord choice that I don't quite agree with; the one that first sounds at 00:24 (I think). But repeated listenings seem to have worn the resistance off.. it doesn't sound so bad anymore. Well, on 00:56 it does a bit. And at 03:03. Maybe it's something that doesn't quite suck, but could still have been handled a bit better, though I can't say how right now. Perhaps it's in the other instruments, as 03:36 doesn't sound as bad again. I kinda like it. Yeah.

Disc 1, track 9: Frozen Heart

Another well done track that doesn't really have a lot of appeal to me. I'm picky when it comes to trance although I have started to enjoy it recently-ish (partially thanks to OCR - bLiNd's Jenova track on VotL was sort of a turning point). The piano doesn't work for me here, and it generally doesn't in trance tracks (again I stress - for me). The title fits, the soundscape is quite cold.

--Eino

edit #3: I seem unable to count the track numbers properly..

[Titch]

Hey, just thought I would drop by having finished listening to Summoning of Spirits. Mad props to everyone involved. I really loved listening to it.

[Dhsu]

Also kudos to The Joker for practically doing a disc's worth of tracks himself. :lol:

[CC Ricers]

Thanks for all the encouraging replies. It was nice reading some of the play-by-plays of the individual tracks.

Looks like now it should be fine for me to release the only-heard-by-Kyle extra remix that I was working on during the times Sheena's theme was stuck in my head, but only did it for fun since my real WIP was farther up ahead at this point.

[Dhsu]

You know, what we really need is a timeline showing when each track was finished, along with all the deadlines we had. Mustin actually forgot ever working on my track, haha.

[evktalo]

You know, what we really need is a timeline showing when each track was finished, along with all the deadlines we had. Mustin actually forgot ever working on my track, haha.

That would be kind of fun, yeah. I thought Fishy's comments (along the lines of "WHAT?! I was on this project?!") were pretty funny in the announcement thread.

--Eino

[KyleJCrb]

You know, what we really need is a timeline showing when each track was finished, along with all the deadlines we had. Mustin actually forgot ever working on my track, haha.

This could be doable...

Or maybe not. A lot of the earlier PMs are gone, and file dates are unreliable. Hmmm...

[The Joker]

Also kudos to The Joker for practically doing a disc's worth of tracks himself. :lol:

Awesome! I blame the years long wait, & dementia.

[evktalo]

Here's a bunch o'more!

Disc 1, track 10: Momentary

I'd love to love this one. I really like the, don't know, (curiously) dry sound of the piano, and this really reminds me a lot of Tori Amos' playing (this is a high compliment from me). The arrangement falls somewhat short, though. It lacks structure.

There's many cool ideas, including a lot of brave deviations from the original key (some are frankly real bad), but I'd love if it they were really elaborated on. I get the impression of the artist tweaking individual notes rather than considering the whole. On the other hand, there's a kind of an improv quality going on, where the improviser deviates just a little around the track without really taking command of the tune. Either way it's somewhat weak.. but there's still some honestly musical quality that shines through, and as I listen on repeat to the track while writing this, I just start liking it more and more. Mind that I still think it's seriously flawed.

Okay, let's see what happens if we take a tour:

00:00-00:17 goes through the theme twice in a moderate pace, establishing it. I love the sound, perfect reverb too.

00:18-00:25 going through it once a little less cautiously, playing with it a little.

I'm quite expecting it to go through it once again, but it then sort of sticks to the first chord of initial chord progression, and is then left hanging in some middle ground. 00:34 it feels anchored again, but it seems it always pulls back to the first chord of the first theme, and that gives a static feel, the feeling that it's going nowhere. 00:57 there's a note that sounds totally wrong.

01:01-01:03 it - quite suddenly - goes into minor scale (I think) - and I LOVE HOW THAT SOUNDS. Of course, the structure should really set up this change somehow, it feels very random.. and whoosh, we are out of it just a few seconds after. This is exactly what should be elaborated. (I guess you could argue that this bit foreshadows the later minor sections, but I don't really agree it does so substantially enough. Hehe, look, I'm arguing with myself.)

01:05 sounds sort of bad, but it also sort of resolves to the next chord. It one of those bits that would make more sense if it had more context to it. Elaboration, elaboration.. 01:12 another bit in minor that sounds good in itself, but, hmm.. the whole 01:09-01:17 sounds like such a bunch of randomness.. and like suddenly drawn by a magnet, we're back on the first chord. The rhythmically refreshing, riff-like figure at 01:09 really promises a lot, but it's not enought the break away from gravity..

Then that riff-magnet cycle sort of happens again. I just.. this is really frustrating to listen to, really. 01:22-01:24, really nice little figure, an image of swordplay flashed in my mind. 01:23-01:27 the driving little riff again, 01:27-01:29 the sound of the batmobile very nearly driving off the road. Please, drive carefully! (sorry, I'm going a bit crazy here) 01:31-01:32, back on track, a nice sort of a continuation of the riff. 01:33-01:35, almost a really gripping transition to a minor chord up on the scale, but then we're stuck on that. damn. chord. like. glue. ARRRRRRGHGHGHHHH 01:37 is a weird chord.

After 01:41 things actually get pretty decent and consistent. It could be improved, but I'm not so confused anymore. There's a definite change of mood and a change of rhythm, especially after 02:02, and here we endeed enter a minor feel in a consistent and good-sounding manner. There still is a feel of overplaying, cluttering the whole with notes (around 02:00 there's a definite stray), and I certainly feel the right hand should play minor at 02:23-02:24, but the track finishes up really beautifully. It unwinds. Nice touch.

Ghuh, let me listen to it once through completely without analyzing. Hmmh, yes, I like it. No problems. Sticking to that chord in the middle makes it seem static, there are a couple of inexcusable "wrong" notes (but not too many), I am wishing for a less-is-more approach - just the right, beautiful notes without the clutter, letting go of that. chord. - but I guess I can listen to this as it is and appreciate it.

(I hope this wasn't too incoherent. If my attempts at humour felt offensive, I deeply apologize. I can clarify as necessary.)

Disc 1, track 11: Gentry is a Five Letter Word

Intriguing, playful track that's very likeable from the start. I like the bass, and the part with the organ playing the chords - I guess it's the chorus, first starts at 00:53 - is really nice.

I have production gripes though - it's way too soft for it's own good, and the drums seriously lack power. This drains the energy the piece really would have. I feel like I'm listening through a soft blanket. Flutey leads aren't great either, but passable. The organ that was mentioned is alright.

Ending is a bit of a cop-out, it just stops. The instruments could have signaled the oncoming end, e.g. going into it with a strong(er) drum fill, that sorta stuff. Otherwise the structure is good, there's a lot of varying, very melodic material, there's a lot to like! (..the chorus just came on again, I love it!)

Disc 1, track 12: Wind Dry My Tears

Bluesy/lamenting guitar effort. Timing and tuning are not perfect, but nothing I couldn't live with. The use of voice in this track is one of it's key features. It's quite good. I like the variety of guitars used, all are very consistent. I love that chord staying where it was for a while at 03:10.

Low strings at 03:29 sound very nice. I like the dramatic chord changes, and they're handled very well. Again, personal appeal to me isn't huge, but I can appreciate a lot of things here.

Disc 2, track 1: Beyond Absentminded

A very strong opener. Hale-Bopp's lead voice is a bit too boybandish for me to totally appreciate, but holy cow those harmonies sound great, great, great. And part of the time his leads sound more like the 60s, which is totally fine with me. :> Cool backing track too. Apart from the weak-sounding solo (it's pretty lifeless - the melody is good though!), the guitars are very nice, the rest I actually pay no attention to at all, in good or bad, so they probably serve their purpose.

Disc 2, track 2: Summoned Without Reason

I actually like this one much better than The Unholy Wars. Probably because it's not constant in-your-face guitar lead wailery. I love the guitar solos here, though. I'm not a huge fan of thousand-notes-a-minute (unless it's Robert Fripp), but the first two sections of the solo part are very cool, and the restraint there makes the later flurry sound good even to me. And the it turns into a violin - nice!

My main gripe is with the lifeless synth lead - some legato would be nice, I don't like how with each new note trigger it's the same filter envelope again and again. This is tiring especially during where the notes are longer - curiously, it's ok when they're closer together.

The intro is very effective. I really like the material, so this made me check out the original as well. There's this, er.. "ganbatte!" feel to the track, don't you agree? :)

Disc 2, track 3: Middle-Aselia Biology

Begins very nicely. The bells remind me of the soundtrack to a game called Zeliard. This gives me happiness! I like the writing, a lot. I have the same production gripes as with "Gentry...", and the lack of power in the drums is even more unfortunate - especially since the percussion writing is often pretty cool! That ride cymbal in the intro! (Although the most quiet notes on it are a bit too quiet, disappearing and creating a gap in the rhythm.)

I like the sound of those bells. I like also the electric piano after 02:21, although it's very quiet. The flute sample is rather subpar, bothers me more than the same/similar patch in "Gentry..." Don't like that off-key note at 02:56. Hmm. Can't decide if the lead writing from there to the part at 03:18 is strong enough, it sounds a bit like it's running out of steam. I'd really like if the lead that starts around 03:45 was handled by a different sound than the flute.. it's getting a bit shrill on my ears. It could switch back at 04:16.

Cool mood, production is a bit weak, I tire of the flute, feels a bit long. Yeah. To sleep now. Take care.

--Eino

[Rexy]

And this is why you'll never see me get picked up for an "elitist" OCR project. :lol:

Anyway, thank you very much for your feedback on my Phantasia tracks, 'talo. (lol don't know what else to refer to you as!) You got it right on that I have issues with drums mastering, and that's rarely something I can get done right, but I still feel happy enough with my compositions nonetheless.

Concerning patches and stuff, both tracks were made in completely different production settings. "Middle-Aselia Bilogy" was forged in a music tech classroom some cold December of 2006, and "Gentry" was cleared with my current home setup as per April 2008, with what was then seen to be one of the most powerful keyboards in the UK market. None of the tracks have any patches in common at all, so I wouldn't see them directly affecting each other at all.

Of course, for the lead-writing in the aforementioned Treant work, I somehow ended up taking a few tips from some of Yoko Shimomura's tracks for Live-A-Live and layered different instruments on doing similar motifs. You may not notice it, but there's also a string patch underneath the flute that plays more of a straight conversion of the melody, and I thought that would help try and soften the tone a bit here. Besides, since it was a forest mix, I thought it would be more natural to make it more woodwind-oriented to try and reflect the tone of the setting, which was what I was feeling with my initial direction with this.

It still kinda irks me that you have a long way to go to reach my other two tracks for the project (which I think are both heads and tails above what i managed to do on the Phantasia side IMO) but for now, I'd have to say thanks very much for the informative feedback :)

[Dhsu]

Man, "No Better Time Than Now" is awesome. Dang.

This could be doable...

Or maybe not. A lot of the earlier PMs are gone, and file dates are unreliable. Hmmm...
Well you can fudge the actual dates, just a general idea would be nice. And you can always check the dates in the finished tracks forum.

And for OverCoat:

http://dhsu.vgpiano.com/misc/ToP_MysticForest.mp3

(This is not me. Also lol @ 32kbps 11KHz MP3.)

[Sir_Downunder]

I've been waiting about a year or two for this to come, but i can safely say this was well worth the wait. Top stuff from everyone who worked on the album :grin:

(BTW: Sixto, you remix of Raine's theme kicked some seriously smooth ass :<)

[OverCoat]

32kbps 11KHz MP3.

just the way I like it!

need tags tho plz jesus goddam

[Dhsu]

Well the only thing I know is that it was performed by Marc Fossey a.k.a. "GigaShadow" and it's from 2002.

[evktalo]

And good morning again..


Anyway, thank you very much for your feedback on my Phantasia tracks, 'talo. (lol don't know what else to refer to you as!)

Heh, 'talo is fine. =) My handle is actually my initials ("evk") with the last half of my surname tacked on. "Talo" means house. Not that you actually asked. But I did think just a week ago or so how incomprehensible the handle must be for non-Finns especially.


Concerning patches and stuff, both tracks were made in completely different production settings. "Middle-Aselia Bilogy" was forged in a music tech classroom some cold December of 2006, and "Gentry" was cleared with my current home setup as per April 2008, with what was then seen to be one of the most powerful keyboards in the UK market. None of the tracks have any patches in common at all, so I wouldn't see them directly affecting each other at all.

D'oh, now that I've read this and am listening to them side by side, this is really obvious. The flute isn't the same at all. I also do note that "Gentry"'s overall sound is a notch better, which probably has to do both improved equipment and skill. The way "Biology" begins with such a cool sound made this more difficult to notice, which means it was good work on the intro. ;)

I can tell that you like soft production, and I think it yields some great things, as the bass in "Gentry". Overall though, these two mixes would benefit from having more crips aspects in the mix (the drums). This helps the softer aspects shine. I'm no fan of soft pop or new-age or so, where an overall soft sound might be the genre-appropriate thing.

Of course, for the lead-writing in the aforementioned Treant work, I somehow ended up taking a few tips from some of Yoko Shimomura's tracks for Live-A-Live and layered different instruments on doing similar motifs. You may not notice it, but there's also a string patch underneath the flute that plays more of a straight conversion of the melody, and I thought that would help try and soften the tone a bit here.

Ah yeah, I notice it now. That is indeed a nice touch that does soften up the sound. (The flute is still quite shrill). I also forgot to mention that I definitely like those little trills on the flute.

It still kinda irks me that you have a long way to go to reach my other two tracks for the project (which I think are both heads and tails above what i managed to do on the Phantasia side IMO) but for now, I'd have to say thanks very much for the informative feedback :)

You're welcome! I'm very happy if you've found my ramblings useful, so thanks for the feedback on the feedback. :)

--Eino

[The Joker]

I was gonna wait until you got to all my tracks, Evk, but I really do appreciate all the time you're spending on my tracks. Good & bad that you find, it's awesome that someone is actually picking them apart. I think, for the most part, the things that are irking you are the things I tend to do on purpose, because I'm weird, & have strange tastes.

Though, I am a bit surprised that you liked what I did to the ending of Momentary, as I thought that section was the weakest in the track. But it's awesome that you're putting that much thought into your critiques. I love reading them!

[pu_freak]

Yeah it's great to have someone listening closely to all of the tracks and give long, constructive feedback. I know you haven't gotten to my track yet, but we all appreciate this kind of comment

[Florio]

As a HUGE fan of Tales of Symphonia, I had to comment THIS. As many, I've waited years for this album. I'll give some feedback (that can't be compared with evktalo's ones, I'll be very simple, and not "long and constructive" as pu_freak said... not that I don't want to, I just can't :oops:), mostly on the Symphonia part. And sorry if my english is bad ¬.¬



First of all, The Unholy Wars. That's the style I love, and the arrangement is so good that I can't dislike it. The intro is just amazing too. Perfect opening for the entire album.


Smile and Forgive now. IMO, the theme isn't that good in the game, so I didn't expect to appreciate that much the track. The sadness in there is very touching. Just love the rythm, the melody...


Café Mantra is a bit too "oriental" for me, but even if it's not my favorite style, I can just admire the quality of the arrangement. A very good job.


Chaotic Heart... just by listening to the intro (I saw the remixer's name after) I knew I'd love this. Didn't imagine the theme being remixed like that AT ALL, but it fits ridiculously well, especially when the chorus is playing... Rocky Raine = WIN.


Desert Nights. Disco time. I don't really like this in general, but that made me laugh when I made the comparison with the atmosphere of Triet xD


Strike of the Devil's Axes : two words. EPIC. WIN. I wanted that kind of remix for THIS track since the game came out. This one is just awesome. Definitely one of my favs.


The Fall of Iselia - I'm not fond of happy themes. But this track brings me some good memories, and I LOVE the dramatical part (2:50 :shock:). Too bad it doesn't last longer IMO. The reference to the story of Iselia along the track is a good idea.


Continental Divide is not very far from the original. I liked a lot the music in the game, it put a particular atmosphere. Continental Divide enhance it with a great arrangement.


Like A Glint. Rock and solid arrangement from a battle theme I like a lot is more than enough to make me love this. Though I think it lacks something... I couldn't say what . Anyway, very nice additions to the original track, especially the guitar riff beginning at 1:21.


Sacred Ashes is really beautiful and sticks well to the original. Ozette (is it the name in English too ?) has a special atmosphere, and is an important place in the game for me since I love everything around Presea. As a fan, I can say this track is a success.


Altar Perception. The instruments in this track are a very good choice IMO, and the entire mix feels nice. Not much else to say... it goes smoothly and sounds perfect.


Ah, Dream Traveler. I said it earlier, I'm a Presea lover, so it's only natural for me to fear this remix and to think "Please, it MUST be perfect !". I have to say I'm not disappointed. I don't know, there's something that "elates" me (is it the right term ?), and that's why the title fits also perfectly. The string coupled with the piano result in a great arrangement. Beautiful.


My Secret Forest is a bit too far from the original for me. The moments I prefer are when the original music is easily recognizable. Still, the whole track is composed with a master hand and feels very good to listen at. R.I.P, Reuben Kee.


Apogee. The intro is just totally awesome. Actually, the whole track is. Very nice variations from the original melody. I especially love the intro, outro, and at 1:40 and 3:16 with this amazing bass ! The original track was great, this one is even better.


Holy Judgement... damn, I didn't except something like that. A 12 minutes track, are you crazy ? And are you allowed to create such an epic arrangement after all these amazing tracks ? I must admit I was afraid at the beginning. In 12 minutes, there MUST be something I dislike... no ? Could everything in this track be incredible ? I don't know if it's me or not, but you just CAN'T hate this arrangement, at least if you already beat the game once. I won't give you the details, it'd be even longer than the track itself.
First, the different characters' voices fits perfectly... even Genis' one gave me the chills (thanks to the choirs). Every instrument is played as and when it has to be played (I know what I mean, that's the important :tomatoface:). Every part of the arrangement sounds very epic. I think there's not much else to say about it. Thanks, guys.


And to finish, Summoning of Spirits. Another "Fighting of the Spirit" remix, but still very different. IMO, it closes the album (without the Ratatosk bonus) perfectly, with a very beautiful and calm arrangement. The piano section at 3:41 is just... wow. Well, almost everything else in the track is great, but I particulary loved this part.



That's all for me now. I hope you appreciated the feedback, though a bit "noobish" (and frenchie too).
I will just thank all of you for making this entire album, that's some incredible work. One last thing to say : :nicework: (much better than a speech)

[The Joker]

You know, I wish the alternate tracks got more attention. It's really interesting to hear where other people arrived when they approached Arche's theme.

Also, I'm amazed at how different the project version of "Cold Memory" is to the initial finished one.

Plus, I wonder how "Chronometrical (teh epicness edit)" is being recieved, as opposed to the project version.

Quick note, I listened to the project in one sitting, while I did other stuff, it is indeed an exquisite ride. I'm really, really proud to have been a part at what was, & will probably continue to be, the best project I've had the honour to be a part of.

I shout , "We had some good times, didn't we?" And you'd whisper back, "Yeah, I guess!" Then blue dong appears & destroys a city.*



*I watched the Watchmen the other day. There was a lot of dong in it. Both blue, & of bird. it had boobs, too, so it wasn't a complete sausage fest.

[Dhsu]

Seriously, Chaotic Heart is top-notch.

[KyleJCrb]

I still love what Usa did with Desert Flower. Honestly, disco was the last genre I thought we'd get for this thing, but I'm really glad we did.

[Rexy]

Oh, absolutely. I wouldn't call the production up to OCR standards as such, but what Dan did was pulled out one of the most creative surprises on the Symphonia side, and it's something like this that makes me feel all good inside.

Mind, I wonder if Usa ever posts here anymore >.>

[SwordBreaker]

I was just going to plug in my link in spreading the word around...but I see you guys found the COE Podcast episode already. I plugged your stuff when we were finishing up our gaming discussions toward the end. :)

I've downloaded the torrent a couple of days back but I always postponed listening to the stuff 'cause it's overwhelming. Right now I just finished the bonus stuff from Dawn of the New World and they're all great tracks. I was especially surprised with "No Better Time Than Now" 'cause the male and female vocals were really cool(despite being drowned out at times) and the music is very Sakuraba-esque.

I'll continue giving some ongoing impressions here. Once I'm done perhaps I'll whoop up something for the gaming site I write for. Wrote a review of Voices of the Lifestream awhile back.

http://www.projectcoe.com

[Ray Falling]

First off, congrats on finally releasing the project.

Second though, I must say I was very disappointed ;_; I actually felt that the sound quality of some tracks or their samples was really odd, which made them a pain to listen to. Especially my favourite tracks didn't do it for me.

That's not to say that as a whole it was bad; it just didn't work for me even though I had high hopes after having heard the preview compilation a while back (the things that bothered me back then still bothered me now).

The project was a great community effort and it's good to see it still came out after all that time. :)

[PriZm]

Thanks everyone.

I feed on the succulence of feedback :)

[Chen]

Awesome jobs, everyone! This will definitely keep me up all night.

[Chen]

What ever happened to The Law of the Battle aka Battle Royale? I thought PriZm and Christian had one cooked up and ready to go.

Edit: Never mind. I found it in the bonus tracks section. Shame it didn't get in the final track list. Absolutely adore it.

[KyleJCrb]

What ever happened to The Law of the Battle aka Battle Royale? I thought PriZm and Christian had one cooked up and ready to go.

Edit: Never mind. I found it in the bonus tracks section. Shame it didn't get in the final track list. Absolutely adore it.

Never got done. Couldn't get any extra guitarists or rappers to commit to it, sadly. I think PriZm could try and finish it now though: Maybe get Sixto, Prince of Darkness, and Mega Ran (http://www.megaran.com/) in on that shee-it?

[PriZm]

Never got done. Couldn't get any extra guitarists or rappers to commit to it, sadly. I think PriZm could try and finish it now though: Maybe get Sixto, Prince of Darkness, and Mega Ran (http://www.megaran.com/) in on that shee-it?

Well I don't have the midi file anymore, but if you or Christian still have it, it might be worth giving a shot.

But since myf and kungfuchicken aren't around anymore, it might be hard to find rappers.

[KyleJCrb]

Methinks PriZm needs to click on the Mega Ran link. Maybe get Fishy all up in this bee-yotch too.
I believe I have the MIDI, will post when I get home.

[PriZm]

Yes that guy ain't bad. I'll ask him if I can get a commitment from da other folks.

Get me the midi and I'll see what I can do. I haven't played guitar for almost a year now but I guess now would be a good time to start practicing again.

In other words, no guarantees :)

[KyleJCrb]

I haven't played guitar in about 2 years, and I was an extreme novice to begin with, but I'll help with whatever I can.

[KyleJCrb]

Well, I don't have a full MIDI, just two older versions (and the rendered MIDI-turned-MP3 that was released as a bonus track): http://kngi.org/miscstuff/PriZm%20-%20Law%20of%20the%20Battle%20WIP.mid and http://kngi.org/miscstuff/PriZm%20-%20Law%20of%20the%20Battle%20WIP%20V2%20Intro.mid

Maybe you can still make use of them and whip up a new version, eh?

[Aninymouse]

To be honest for just a second, I'd say you guys could have done well to tighten up the quality control on this album overall. There are a lot of great tracks, but there are some (and I won't point fingers) that are much more... unbalanced. They take away from the experience as a whole.

But on the whole... I was pleased with the final product. You guys did good.

[Dhsu]

Yeah, Sixto totally brought the whole album down. >:[

[KyleJCrb]

I think Dhsu ruined it, personally. Goddamn piano.

[Kureejii Lea]

I think you're all smelly. Especially that Kyle person.

[KyleJCrb]

You wouldn't know, you've never been within 2,000 miles of me.

[pu_freak]

I think Dhsu ruined it, personally. Goddamn piano.


Ugh... I HATE piano

[jett]

Only heard some of the tracks so far, but this is really impressive. :D

[SnappleMan]

To be honest for just a second, I'd say you guys could have done well to tighten up the quality control on this album overall. There are a lot of great tracks, but there are some (and I won't point fingers) that are much more... unbalanced. They take away from the experience as a whole.

But on the whole... I was pleased with the final product. You guys did good.

That's the problem with the quantity over quality outlook a lot of people seem to have these days when starting projects. This could have very well been cut down to one disc of really good material. The production varies so much from song to song that it just seems like a DoD and not a cohesive album. Still, there's a couple great tracks in here.

[Monobrow]

yeah actually I think there is only one great track and it is in the bonus section and too bad it was never finished!

[KyleJCrb]

yeah actually I think there is only one great track and it is in the bonus section and too bad it was never finished!

Oh...snap?

[Mae]

To be honest for just a second, I'd say you guys could have done well to tighten up the quality control on this album overall. There are a lot of great tracks, but there are some (and I won't point fingers) that are much more... unbalanced. They take away from the experience as a whole.

But on the whole... I was pleased with the final product. You guys did good.

There were some people who just stopped working on their tracks after they had it "finished" even though there may have been room for improvement. Perhaps some of these may be the ones you would point fingers at. Not sure which ones you're talking about, compared to who ended up stopping their progress on tracks.

That's the problem with the quantity over quality outlook a lot of people seem to have these days when starting projects. This could have very well been cut down to one disc of really good material. The production varies so much from song to song that it just seems like a DoD and not a cohesive album. Still, there's a couple great tracks in here.
The Tales project certainly shoots other OCR remix projects out of the water (such as VotL and CS), because there was some sort of quality control, and people were kicked for sucking.

I agree that the project doesn't really sound like one cohesive project because of all the styles (disco, trance, omfg guitarrrrzzzzz, orchestral, etc), but had they tried to go with just one style, then the project would have only appealed to a few people who like the chosen style. With the various styles, it allows more people to enjoy the project (in full or part) as well as introduces some people to styles they may not normally enjoy. So, I think the various styles are more of a positive factor than a negative one.

I think you're all smelly. Especially that Kyle person.
I just took a whiff...he is.

[evktalo]

After a short break, here are more comments. Thanks for the feedback on feedback people, it's really great to know that you appreciate it, especially as it probably isn't exactly flattering all the way. :] I do my best to be constructive!

Disc 2, track 4: Cold Memory

Very cool atmosphere here in this song.. (yes, that was a lame pun). I like this track, but I'd like to like it more. Initially I didn't - the bad had me not hear the good in the song, before I started listening more closely.

The fade-in, with the choir, is sort of choppy/grainy, but I really like that effect - I wish there was more of that throughout the piece!

The high strings and the piano are way too forte from the start. I think the feel of this songs would be absolutely amazing if there was more dynamic "playing" on those instruments. It should grow, not start at 9 or 10. I don't like the piano chord at 00:39. It just doesn't fit with the other instruments. Otherwise the writing is good, but the lack of dynamics and that one chord makes it sound worse than it is. I like the harp in the background, with the high notes on the piano there's the icicly feel.

00:53-01:16 sounds absolutely gorgeous. Wouldn't change a thing. The change at 01:12, beautiful. I don't like how the same strings figure repeats the next two bars, but that's more because it's the same velocity than that it's the same notes - the same figure played more lightly might sound quite cool - slightly varying the melody might still be better. I like the change underneath. I also like the low strings playing that continuous pulse in the background.

The next section that begins has a problem: it goes fuller, louder - but the instruments are already playing with pretty loud touch, so when more is added, it gets crowded. While I say that I must also say I like the overall sound here. Alas, there are note choices that don't sound good to me. Around 01:26 the low strings, now playing longer notes (and sounding mighty good) touch a note out of scale I think. 01:30 something is again garbled in the lower register.. hmm, I think that's it actually, but again just those two points, and the lack of dynamics make it sound worse than it was.

Starting at 01:46 there are some cymbal runs (and water sounds?), they sound really good and evoke an image of chlling, icy water. A fantastic effect. 01:48 the low strings stay in place.. the dissonance is interesting, I like how it anchors itself around that one note. 01:53 sounds bad to me though, but overall 01:42-02:23, while dissonant and dense, works, especially as it sort of unwinds towards the end. It reminds me of some expressionistic string pieces I've heard.

Still I'd love more use of dynamics here. 02:24-02:36 is good in the arrangement side, but again and throughout the forte feel on the instruments in the major gripe. 02:35 there's a high piano note that sounds totally out of the picture. I really like how the strings and piano support each other at 02:36-02:42. I like the icy tuned percussion -like synth sound towards the end. The fadeout feels pretty shoddy - overall the writing on the ending sounds loose, although there's strong hinting at a corgeous melody on the piano at 03:09-03:14 - there's all the potential of a solid ending based on that.

I think playing orchestral samples at a continuous forte can work, but I really feel this style would benefit from a different approach with them - it's definitely worth investigating!

Disc 2, track 5: Simplified Design

Change of pace, yeah. The intro's quite tasty. I like how the drums and rhythm guitars/bass sound. The drums sound dry and acoustic, but there's this electronic edge on the guitars. I'm surely not far off the mark if I say I'm reminded of System of a Down.

01:50 piano is quite out of tune, I don't like the effect. Love the cowbell and horns at 02:47.. Hmm, no wonder the bass sounded electronic! :) I quite like the fake sound. I don't enjoy the choppy strings. They sound tacked on. Similarly with the harp, it sounds so separate from the backing. The harp blends in in the next section though, starting at 03:15, this section is quite nice!

Overall, I can't help but think that there's some problems with the pacing of the piece - it feels long, which is something even a long piece shouldn't feel like. There are bits that just plain don't work for me - the piano, and the choppy strings. I think this one could lose a minute or so and work much better. There's a lot of good in this track, but it doesn't make me want to play it again immediately even though the potential is clearly there with all the delicious riffing going on.

cheers!
--Eino

[OA]

Not to stir up dramaz, but I do tend to agree that QC seemed a little lax on a lot of the tracks. I know that things have changed a lot at OCR in the last 5 years, so it's to be expected, but the older tracks had plenty of time to get updated as the mixers improved.

I know Cpac is the man, but he really should have fixed up the recently rejected Dark Corner (http://www.ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=22312), which I found to be downright embarrassing in spots. It's obvious that it's a super old track of his, and I can appreciate that; I have tracks that are probably a lot more recent of my own that are equally painful to listen to. But it's clear he had the time, so why not make something that really shows OCR off well to potential newcomers?

I do agree that there is about 1 disc of exceptional material on here, 2 discs more of decent but possible-to-improve tracks, and 1 disc worth that definitely should have been reworked or rejected.

[KyleJCrb]

CPac actually did express some interest in reworking his tracks, but it never happened, so I kept what he had.

And a number of tracks actually did see much rework at later stages. Maybe more of them should've been, but we ran out of time.

[OA]

I hear that; don't get me wrong, I think you accomplished something great. This is just critique for next time. :-D

At least you didn't release RD. XD

[pu_freak]

This is just critique for next time.

What? More years of Kyle & Lea on my back? I don't know if I can take it ;)

[Rexy]

Not to stir up dramaz, but I do tend to agree that QC seemed a little lax on a lot of the tracks. I know that things have changed a lot at OCR in the last 5 years, so it's to be expected, but the older tracks had plenty of time to get updated as the mixers improved.

Nah, your comment was much appreciated. Although, even though I take pride in all my contributions in this project, I tend to be prouder with my Symphonia tracks moreso than those on the Phantasia side, even though the former were made earlier. :lol:

On the contrary, I actually grew to like "Dark Corner" the more I listened to it (though, I think CPac's best work on the project is "This Fate" personally). But I do agree that its liberal approach would make it hard to adjust to potential inspiring remixers, though this definitely isn't the most extreme case of which I've seen around the remixing scene.

The more awkward thing is that when looking around on the web to see which tracks on the project were actually at fault, as usually brought up in project releases at such a scale like this, criticisms like this are actually harder to find than all the appraisal - much against what happened with Project Chaos when fingers were pointed all over the place (bringing that up because I was involved in that too). So when you get sparse comments regarding imbalance in QC, the staff and musicians don't know who could have stepped up their game so much more until they find out through the constructive feedback received.

At any rate, we appreciate all comments on board regardless of feeling :)

[CPacaud]

Dark Corner is definitely one of the weakest tracks I ever did, so no worries. It has some redeeming qualities, but overall, I just went way overboard.

So it's OK. Go listen to "This Fate" now :)

[Palpable]

Got through discs 1 & 2 - great stuff so far. There was much more cohesiveness than I was expecting in terms of arrangement, a lot of guitars, piano, and strings. (On a related note, I couldn't see any song I've made fitting into this album at all! :-P But maybe discs 3 & 4 hold more songs of my style.)

So nice sequencing thus far. I might do a track-by-track review in this thread when I'm done.

[The Joker]

Some of my older stuff was a pain to try to rework. Cold Memory in particular, It was actually a lot more dynamic, & quite a bit quieter, which is what I intended it to be. I had to up the volume for it to fit with the rest of the tracks, so, that's probably why it sounds fuller than it was.

My favorite solo track from this is Standing up, as it's more current with what I can do now, as well as different than a lot of stuff I usually do.

[KyleJCrb]

Dark Corner is definitely one of the weakest tracks I ever did, so no worries. It has some redeeming qualities, but overall, I just went way overboard.

Sorry for submitting it then, but I've honestly always thought it was a good track. Oh well.

[Monobrow]

I WILL NEVER EVER EVER EVER TOUCH STANDING THE PAIN AGAIN!!!!!!!!1111


Really, in defense of the quality of tracks... Take a look at my Pain Withstanding song, and then listen to Altar Perception, a track I started a year later. I spent hours trying to "improve" on Pain Withstanding, and you can ask Kyle, even though I pretty much finished it within the first month, I kept working on it over and over, off and on for about a year... And as much work I put into that song (mostly in instrument choice and mixing as well as just trying to get it to goddamn load and not glitch out on me) I still to this day, hate hate hate hate it, and think it's an awful representation of my skill levels now.

BUT I DON'T FRIGGIN' CARE!

I may not like Pain Withstanding, hell a lot of people might not, but if someone does, then that's enough for me, and at one point, I did like it. It's a song that no one claimed on the project, that wasn't even listed as a choice, and I decided to do because I liked the original... And hopefully someone who likes the original as much as I do, will be able to appreciate it. If not, they can go to the next track, or the 50 others to choose from.

In other words, you can't always push for a re-working of a song on someone saying it "could" have happened as the obvious choice. Easier said than done, every time. Sometimes a musician needs to just move on and do something else, otherwise you'll be beating a dead horse. And sometimes people eventually do come back to old music and redo it... But this was a project, and it has many more factors to it than just the individual's personal growth and motivation to redo a song.

Quality over Quantity? Well why not both? AFAIK, there's plenty of quality on SoS for a community such as this... And many different genres to wet anyone's taste buds. And the ratio is far better than most people expected from what I've read.

I mean, you guys are gonna list your favorite 12 tracks and say "THESE ARE THE BEST TRACKS YOU SHOULD HAVE CUT THE REST!"? Well I bet your favorite 12 are gonna differ from the next guy's.

I think Kyle's (and Lea's) priorities with this project were spot on. He worked with people in the community, got an incredible amount of songs done, and as a result, we get a bunch of songs that span five billion years in their creation, as this grew and the musicians within it as well. He didn't cut tracks just because they were old, because his priority was to get the project done and keep the ball rolling, which amazingly enough, he did.

[evktalo]

So nice sequencing thus far. I might do a track-by-track review in this thread when I'm done.

I've mostly done track-by-track listening, but from the couple of complete listens, the sequencing seems pretty succesful despite the many different styles. Cold Memory, it seems then, may have been a victim in the process though!

--Eino

[PriZm]

Got through discs 1 & 2 - great stuff so far. There was much more cohesiveness than I was expecting in terms of arrangement, a lot of guitars, piano, and strings. (On a related note, I couldn't see any song I've made fitting into this album at all! :-P But maybe discs 3 & 4 hold more songs of my style.)

So nice sequencing thus far. I might do a track-by-track review in this thread when I'm done.

Thanks.

That would be awesome :)

[PriZm]

I may not like Pain Withstanding, hell a lot of people might not, but if someone does, then that's enough for me, and at one point, I did like it. It's a song that no one claimed on the project, that wasn't even listed as a choice, and I decided to do because I liked the original... And hopefully someone who likes the original as much as I do, will be able to appreciate it. If not, they can go to the next track, or the 50 others to choose from.


I actually much prefer Pain Withstanding to Altar Perception.

[Rexy]

I wouldn't call "Pain Withstanding" a pain to listen to (lol); it's obvious that the production side of it felt a little dated in comparison to the epic collab later on in the album, but it still showed a great deal of your arrangement skill and interpretation of an otherwise droneful source tune. Relax, Katie; in the context of the album, you did fine :)

[Monobrow]

Thanks Rexy, did you know the project file for that song was "standingthepainintheass" lol...

Also thanks Prizm, this is what I was talking about anyway, it's not about my taste anymore, I could dislike my own song, but it's out there for other people to listen to.

So picking your favorites, everyone's is gonna be different. Which is why I think this project works in the first place, there's so much to choose from.

[The Joker]

I'm gonna go on record & say, I love all my children*, even the ugly ones.


*children meaning songs.

[Monobrow]

I am a banana

[Arcana]

Hey all,

I remember back in the day when this project was still in its inception stages. Great to see that it's been completed with all of the toppings. Congratulations!

[Kureejii Lea]

Hey all,

I remember back in the day when this project was still in its inception stages. Great to see that it's been completed with all of the toppings. Congratulations!

I wondered if you were still around. Thanks!

[KyleJCrb]

Tales Union interviewed us recently, and the interview was published today: http://www.talesunion.com/news/websites/ocremix/tales-union-speaks-with-co-producers-of-summoning-of-spirits

[ocremixfan]

Came here to see what other people think about the album... must say I didn't expect this much downside critics.

Unfortunately for me, the overall style doesn't appeal to me that much... even for songs with a more calm/sad nature (like Freeze and Mint), it seems like the emotion on the song is partially gone. Maybe it's just me...
Someone also said about the absence of different styles... it seems to me the biggest flaw in the project. I like he project style, but most songs like that makes me tired. Guess could be more enjoyable if it wasn't so homogeneous, even if for some that is somehow conflicting with the idea of an album.

But for sure it is well executed project, congratulations to those involved!

[KyleJCrb]

Someone also said about the absence of different styles... it seems to me the biggest flaw in the project. I like he project style, but most songs like that makes me tired. Guess could be more enjoyable if it wasn't so homogeneous, even if for some that is somehow conflicting with the idea of an album.

Are you sure you listened to the right album? Your complaint of it being too homogeneous doesn't make a whole lot of sense, seeing as how we pretty much ran the gamut of styles: Orchestral, rock, new age, trance, industrial, piano solos, even disco and funk. I suppose there is a lot of rock, and maybe that's not your thing, but it is interspersed among many other types of music. You can have your opinion of the album, that's fine; I'm just confused about your "homogeneous" criticism, because honestly I don't see it, and I think you are actually the first person to point it out. I think homogeneous would apply more to an album like Chrono Symphonic, or Relics of the Chozo, as both were designed that way.

[Kureejii Lea]

Yeah, pretty much echoing what Kyle said... you don't have to like it, but I really can't see where you get "homogeneous" from, or how "that style" puts you to sleep when there is no singular "album style" here. Listen to just about any handful of songs - say, Go the Distance to This Fate to City of Vigor to Continental Divide to Frozen Heart to Café Mantra to Desert Nights to Altar Perception to Strike to Gentry and so on - and there's no stylistic similarity. Even the tracks that do fall under similar instrumentation or genre still sound distinct - compare Airborne to Dream Traveler to My Secret Forest, or Chaotic Heart to Antegenesis to On the Edge. Sorry, but I really don't understand where you're coming from.

[Dunther]

Completed Tales of Phantasia. Tomorrow morning I will listen CD 1 & 2 :)

[Monobrow]

Someone also said about the absence of different styles...

lol dude...

[OverCoat]

homogeneous

The fact that I'm on this album makes it not homogenous

DEBUNK'D

[evktalo]

Unfortunately for me, the overall style doesn't appeal to me that much... even for songs with a more calm/sad nature (like Freeze and Mint), it seems like the emotion on the song is partially gone. Maybe it's just me...

I'm guessing it might sound samey because there is so much stuff to absorb. The sequencing (there are lot of good transitions there, which put similarly styled pieces, or pieces with fitting ending/beginning pairs next to each other) might also create a sense of unified feel to the albums. I find the whole surprisingly consistent in overall feel (though I've only had a couple of full listen-throughs so that's to be taken with a pinch of salt).

--Eino

[ocremixfan]

I'm guessing it might sound samey because there is so much stuff to absorb. The sequencing (there are lot of good transitions there, which put similarly styled pieces, or pieces with fitting ending/beginning pairs next to each other) might also create a sense of unified feel to the albums. I find the whole surprisingly consistent in overall feel (though I've only had a couple of full listen-throughs so that's to be taken with a pinch of salt).

--Eino

I honestly don't know... just said what I feel, moreover I just listen, I can't analyse a dust about music.
And I just listened to discs 1 and 2 (just played ToP)... yeah, I know, I'm absolutely missing awesome stuff from games I never played, my fault.

Anyway, sorry for my empty criticism! :tomatoface:

[Rexy]

It didn't stop me from listening to "Rise of the Star" before I played Kirby's Adventure, or even listening to "The Dark Side of Phobos" whilst having never played Doom... or even taking part in this particular remix project.
My personal view on this is that while we accomplished a mammoth project together, I feel that there are more highlights on the Symphonia side than there are on the Phantasia side. It's disappointing that you aren't prepared to listen to it without knowledge on the games themselves :\

[Dunther]

I'm playing Tales of Symphonia right now, soon I will listen the last 2 CDs :)

[ocremixfan]

My personal view on this is that while we accomplished a mammoth project together, I feel that there are more highlights on the Symphonia side than there are on the Phantasia side. It's disappointing that you aren't prepared to listen to it without knowledge on the games themselves :\

I listen some of these songs now and then... but it's not like thinking "will Fighting of the Spirit rock? And Freeze? Mint? Arche? The Dream? The Cross?". I'm already very selective even with remixes of songs known to me, and with unknown ones I won't have any "emotive/nostalgic link" to it.
But sometime soon I'll take my time to listen carefully the last 2 discs, hope you're right! :wink: Sadly I lost my pacience for lengthy playing... guess I'll not try ToS :|

[evktalo]

On this note, the Tales Union interview (and the music here, no doubt) made me interested about playing the games. Good work. :)

--Eino

[MarkShark]

I never was a good reviewer, but I feel bad that I haven't been able to think of anything indepth to say about this project. There's not much I really can!
It's a remix project from one of my favorite game series featuring a whole slew of remixers I already know and love to listen to.
I haven't even been able to really pick out my favorites after all the listening. I really love it, guys.

I just can't seem to settle this craving for Eternia and Abyss remixes now though. :<

[pu_freak]

Hey Eino, got any more reviews?

[evktalo]

Yeah, thanks for asking. Well, not right now. I'm anticipating I'll have all tracks done in 2-3 months. Rexy's gonna get the last one. :tomatoface:

--Eino

[Lint]

Hmmm... congratulations on releasing humongous project!

That being said, I have yet to solidly devote a chunk of time to really digging into the tracks individually. I listened to the album straight through a few times, but then it was lost in shuffle. Initial impressions were something along the lines of "w00t, new album! mad guitars! thank you for lyrics! epic orchestral moments! poignant pianos! so many collaborations ; ;". Or something along those lines if I recall. I also haven't actually played a Tales game to its ending, I am usually put off by the battle system.

Initial standout tracks were:

No Better Time Than Now (This Isn't the Time) - the vocals brought the track some immediate attention, but the beat and mixture of lighter instruments over heavier synthesized sounds/samples/instruments is what really sold me on it.

Deity (Martel) - I think this might be my favorite track on the album. A little bit of melancholy, a lot of beat, excellent flow. Just damn. I think that it was really the song that jumped out at me on my first listen as something that I would need to favorite.

Go the Distance (I'll Go) - Cool. I think that covers everything.

Chronometrical (Stream of Time) - Wow. Love the track. The clock was a nice touch, the whole thing is really pretty. Piano made the finale really great.

Simplified Design (Take Up the Cross) - This track is such a driving guitar track. I swear there was some sort of accident when this ended up on my exercise playlist and I started kicking my own ass. Actually, the little break sections are really funny because they bring this creepy vibe to what otherwise seems like a straight up angry piece of work. Also, not something to play when expecting calm music. Very jarring.

Riddles in the Dark (Morlia Gallery) - God damn, it reminds me of how music used to double-speed when you hit low life. A lot of different pieces here, it's sort of like a group of related musical pieces that bridge together. I dunno if the source does that too, but nice work.

Altar Perception (Search a Seal) - Another group of connecting pieces, though this one seems more intertwined and convoluted.

Hmmm... other positive tracks of note: Beyond Absentminded, Mirror Image, Frozen Heart, Antegenesis, The Koan of Drums, Airborne (I think this was my favorite piano piece actually), Crisis Healing Salve, as time goes on (purely instrumental this strikes me, the vocals seem to cast a shadow over most of the song), Sweet Dreams (pretty sax), and Gentry Is a Five Letter Word.

Didn't care for Arche Angel or Momentary. Songs just didn't click.

Lots of other songs, but I couldn't really do them justice right now. The Symphonia discs seem very nicely put together, and it definitely hits a climax immediately after My Secret Forest. Phantasia was interesting, since I haven't actually played that game, but a few standouts made me really enjoy those discs. Album that is so huge is difficult to absorb in anything but small amounts though. Thank you all very much for this wonderful album.

[evktalo]

Kyle, you've done a good job with the first post, I definitely like to read all those and it also shows you're quite proud of the project, as you all should be, collecting all the little blips and bleeps SoS makes around in everybody's radars.

Why I'm posting is this post (http://rozovian.wordpress.com/2009/03/) by Roz, where he mentions Gentry is a Five Letter Word is in 5/4. What?! I didn't even realize that! And I have an annoying habit of counting unusual time signatures and pointing them out and whatever. Nice work there Rexy!

--Eino

[Rozovian]

What, someone actually reads my blog? Don't you people have lives? :D

But yep, Gentry is a Five Letter Word is one of my favorites from the album, along with Sweet Dreams, Setting Sail, Go the Distance, Smile and Forgive, Airborne, Desert Nights... argh, so many!

Lotta good stuff on this album, and I bet there are tracks that'll grow on me so I'll suddenly realize "hey this is an awesome track too". Great work, everybody involved.