OCRA-0015 - Xenogears: Humans + Gears

[avaris]

Welcome to the Xenogears: Humans + Gears feedback and opinions thread!

You can download the project and read more about it here:

http://xenogears.ocremix.org/


An album trailer can be viewed here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bjnE3VECTo&feature=player_profilepage


Thank you to all of the mixers, staff, and everyone involved! This has been one heck of a ride! Feel free to leave your thoughts about this remix album here!


Thanks! :nicework:

[OA]

kickass video as usual, Jose. I can't wait to hear this thing! Lets GO! :-D

[Bahamut]

Loving the project so far! Some of the tracks I feel are too short, and Oinkness's has production issues, but otherwise great job guys! Some of these tracks are stellar!

[Kizyr]

Just watched the video, and I'm seeding now. Can't wait to give this a listen.

...why is it a gig in size? Are the FLACs really that large? KF

[Shhteve]

Holy. Crap. That is all I have to say. I've been waiting for this for a long time!

[prophetik music]

Just watched the video, and I'm seeding now. Can't wait to give this a listen.

...why is it a gig in size? Are the FLACs really that large? KF

they're lossless, so yes, they're that big.

looking forward to finally listening to the whole thing. huzzah, shaun!

edit: who did the website? oa? it's bloody fantastic. love the popup song info. really well-designed, from a graphics standpoint.

[Emunator]

Alright, I just started listening now! Let's get this party started!

Thanks so much for all your effort guys, I'm glad this finally came to fruition. Especially thanks to you avaris for not letting this fail even when the leadership faltered in the early stages. I'm glad you took this under your wing and gave it the direction it needed!

Ziwtra did the website, Brad. And yes, it is an AWESOME website!

Track By Track analysis as long as I feel like keeping up, lol.

Humans Disc

Awakening Absolutely orgasmic guitar playing. One of the cleanest acoustic recordings I've ever heard, what a pleasant way to open up the album.

Of Sea and Fire Great concept and well executed, complete with awesome soloing and great drums. However, I don't think it needed to be as long as it is, this is one of those rare instances where I think a song is too long. Still a very fun track though.

Shattered Dreams Interesting harmonies with the harp, I really like the solo instruments that come in throughout the track, those sound PERFECT!! This one's a keeper, and is definitely one of my favorite orchestral arrangements I've heard in a long time. Gah, I'm effing giddy just listening to this whenever the solo instruments hit certain points. Sooooo good!

Cybernetic Love Lots of fun, I love the interplay of instruments and the unconventional guitar riffs especially. This almost sounds like it would be a better fit on the Gears disc, but that's nothing against the track itself. Nice vocal sample at the end.

When the Smoke Clears Emotive, longing, and just plain beautiful. Djp did a good job of describing this one as 'organic,' it definitely feels that way. It was great at first but when the ethnic instruments came in it was taken to a whole new level. This reminds me of "Destined for Greatness" but even more accessible. The writeup nearly brought me to tears, this might be the most personal mix I've heard on the project yet.

Ship of Emotion and Song This one takes its sweet time going where it's gonna go at first, but damn does it go places! :-D This is an epic on the level of VHD's Lunar Whale mix from FF4. After a few listens, I think I'm ready to agree that this is VHD's best mix yet!

Take Flight Nice percussion in the intro, that's a high point for me! This far exceeds everything I've heard from you, Clay, and it's nice to finally see you get your work out to the masses! Thanks for doing justice to my favorite song off of the soundtrack!!

The Last Fatima The intro, I'll admit, didn't grab me as much as some of the other orchestral arrangements I've heard so far, but once you got that ethnic flair going it was a good ride! Nice to see you treading new ground like this Shaun!

Echoes Well, it's hard to live up to some of Fishy's best mixes, and honestly I don't think this one quite does it but with the age of the song taken into consideration, it's wonderful and very enjoyable to listen to. I love the soloing around 2:40-ish, especially.

My Child I loved the description for this song on the website. The vocals feel kind of muffled at times and I can't always make out the lyrics, but this one feels special in its own way :-)

The Treasure That Must Be Seduced My other favorite song from the Xenogears soundtrack, this one touched on the parts of the melody that I liked more than "When the Smoke Clears" did, so it's nice to hear. This one sounds a lot better than what I remember hearing it on Dragon Army in terms of mixing, but that might just be hindsight bias taking place :P I especially love the guitar woven in with the orchestral elements, way to give this one your own touch!

In Joy and Sorrow Well, listening to the source and hearing your usual style, I had NO clue what to expect from this mix. This is really weird, haha! Glad you got this one got finished in time for the project though; obvious production issues aside, the lyrics are pretty great and I like the guitar solo too. One of the most unique songs I've heard so far!

New Day Well, I'm not gonna lie, the sample quality kind of impedes on my enjoyment of this mix at times. It's not too bad, but it's noticeable for the first half of the mix before the energy amps up. I love Ziwtra's drum work, as always, and it's a great followup to the mood set by Oinkness's track.

Welcome to the Human Race I can definitely feel the same style that you used in "31 Seconds" showing through here (which I just discovered last night and have been in love with ever since, by the way!) and it's very good! This song doesn't waste any time going completely crazy and assaulting me with awesomeness! Nice job merging elements from "The Flying Machine" and "31 Seconds" and ultimately creating something completely new and original out of it!

First Meeting - The Shadowed Forest This one's a lot more contemplative and paced than anything else I've heard so far, but it's got its own haunting charm. The moments of silence in between sections felt almost too long and it would have been nice to weave the pieces together a bit more coherently, but at the same time I can see how that might have been an intentional stylistic move. Lots of restraint and talent went into this mix and it shows through in the final product!

Akkadia Rising (Solo Sax Edit) Something about the sax tone in the intro rubbed me the wrong way, it felt like it was too reverbed, perhaps... This was a nice addition to the project for its uniqueness, but I definitely prefer the other mix when I heard it on the radio preview. It just doesn't feel complete without the extra effects, I think. Very good playing, though, Brad! I'm definitely a fan of your work in general :-)

A Trace of Tears Very funky, this kind of style was DEFINITELY a good way to end off the album! Some of DA's best vocal work that I've heard yet, too! I think this could have been even cooler with a sax solo somewhere, but God... this is REALLY good as it is! Even at 4 minutes, though, this one felt like it missed an opportunity for some extra soloing after the guitar... This might be my favorite track off the first disc!

Gears Disc

Zeno Paradox This was a great way to introduce the Gears disc, it sounds very well produced and bursting at the seams with creative energy! I don't have many specific comments, but this one definitely is a highlight for me!

Daijiru (Too Hot for Clothes) Lol, signature AnSo bells make an early appearance here. The sound effects are gonna make this one hard to listen to in polite company, but the rest of the song is funky and enjoyable! The style here is a great fit with the source. Kickass, guys! :D

Crash/Restore The guitar is noticeably fake in the beginning but still fits well with the mix. The rest of the sounds are pretty nice and the arrangement is stellar! Great follow-up on the mood set by Too Hot for Clothes, I think this is my favorite Ziwtra mix off the album! I'm incredibly jealous of your solo-writing skills!

Dreamscape While this technically isn't the first time I've heard Nutritious go this way with his music (that shooort K.K. Dirge WIP showed me your potential for writing D&B music like this) but it's great to hear that hidden ability really take flight like this! Moving, energetic, and cohesive, I think this is one of the most pleasant surprises on the album given what I normally expect from the remixer. The traditional orchestral sections that are sandwiched by the big beat segments really fit nicely, and I love your use of new instruments like the sax and guitar. Way to bring down the house, Justin! Please do more stuff like this!

Wounded Soldier I'll admit I'm not as impressed with this one as some of the others in terms of complexity or uniqueness, but there's a lot to like about the simple groove and loud, grandiose style. It's nice to hear a debut from you, I look forward to hearing how you tackle Snow Mountain on the Super Mario 64 project, too! If it's anything like this I think I've got something to look forward too :-)

Smooth Criminals This is just weird as hell for the first half, but enjoyable in its own right. I like once you find a groove and build upon that, this definitely feels like your style of music. Nice ending, too, but I wish you'd made it go just a biiit faster.

Sleeper Dreamer This many straightforward dance songs in a row kind of grated on my nerves, but this song isn't bad by any means, just a little textbook for my tastes.

Omen (R3 Mix) The opening sounds crazy on headphones, great bass! Only 30 seconds in, the distortion is already kicking my ass to the ground, and it only improves from there! This definitely feels like one of the highlights of the Gears disc, especially when things pick up around 2:55... that's just crazy!

Akkadia Rising I love how this track infuses a bit of a human touch into the Gears disc right when it needed it most. Very cool beats and bass, and Brad's sax definitely fits better with the backing instruments here. Beautiful, and one of the most original parts of the Gears disc!

Devil Flare Nice guitar work, and I'm a huge fan of your use of strings in these upbeat arrangements, RoeTaKa! Loud, upbeat, and energetic - I like it!!

Binary Chain A bit less intense than the rest of the Gears disc up to this point, but the bouncy synth seems appropriate for the source tune. It's a nice mellower (but still engaging and fun) followup to the ear-busting goodness that preceded it.

October Rain Well, the intro leads me to believe that this should be on the Humans disc. As soon as the Phil Collins-style drums came in, I took a double-take to see if I was really hearing things right - that's the most powerful drumming I've ever heard in a remix, and it carries the rest of the song VERY well. Not what I was expecting at all from seeing the mixers involved, but it was a wonderful surprise nonetheless! This one is definitely greater than the sum of its parts!

Of God and Man (or is it Lacan Divided? The site and MP3 files say two different things Some of the opening synth choices are a bit harsh on the ears, but they sound cool enough :) This has got a very distinct "final boss" feel to it, especially with the strange transitions and how every section of the song has a very distinct feel to it. Not to knock your previous work, but I personally think this one blows your FF4 mix out of the water in almost every way possible! Huge improvement!

Dogma The dissonant opening felt really weird, and I'm not sure if I liked it, really. However, once the song got going I started to like it a bit more. The guitar (or is it a synth?) was a really cool touch and I like what you did with the track at that point especially. This is one of the stranger tracks on the Gears disc but for the most part, it works.

Defective A lot of the leads sound muffled in the introduction. Cool percussion and synth, I like how you mixed that with a slightly organic mood throughout this song. This is definitely not what I expected to hear from either of you guys, but it still retains your own signature styles while taking them in new directions.

Shit on Citan CHIPP, you are ridiculous. Friggin insane. I could criticize the flatness of the lead guitar, but I don't think it would matter - this mix is so badass it would just deflect the criticisms back and hit me in the face with them! When I was finished with this mix I was pretty much just sitting there with a dumb look on my face, like... what the hell just happened?

[Pander]

The first track is an emotional table-setter, from what I've listened to, the rest of the first half follows suit with guitars, pianos, brass, flutes, and happy melodies. Much love.

I don't get Bahamut's objection about length...a cursory glance suggests the average length is around 4 minutes. I sort of agree about the Oinkness bit. The guitars are too far in the background a lot outside of the solo around 1:30, and the singer's range is slightly less than what I would have liked to hear. Upbeat nature reminds me of Hale-Bopp, and I like the song, but it stands out not just in terms of style but in terms of production.

[Pander]

Track 1-14, Welcome to the Human Race

John Revordero does it again, providing an odd, standout track loaded with sound byte quotes.

I don't think it'll be the runaway favorite that Doom2's 31 Seconds was, but it's definitely a lot of fun.

[Brandon Strader]

Well if you want to get technical, a compact disc can't hold 1gig worth of information, so FLAC is much more than lossless -- they actually hold a butt-ton of useless file size. Even the 16bit wav files for a CD usually don't go over 600mb with all tracks included...

and Oinkness's has production issues

Way to single me out. :P

[avaris]

Thanks dudes!

That first track (Quickening) was done ENTIRELY in less than 24hrs about 3 weeks ago. Level 99 composed and performed those guitars in about 2 hours on one take. The mastering involved a little bit of Guitar Amp Pro used on a bus to add in that early 90's alt rock feel. Don't let Level 99 read your comments otherwise he'll prob cry...no seriously! :)


Yeah ziwtra is a pretty amazing dude all around. That website is basically entirely him.

[Bahamut]

The first track is an emotional table-setter, from what I've listened to, the rest of the first half follows suit with guitars, pianos, brass, flutes, and happy melodies. Much love.

I don't get Bahamut's objection about length...a cursory glance suggests the average length is around 4 minutes. I sort of agree about the Oinkness bit. The guitars are too far in the background a lot outside of the solo around 1:30, and the singer's range is slightly less than what I would have liked to hear. Upbeat nature reminds me of Hale-Bopp, and I like the song, but it stands out not just in terms of style but in terms of production.

Well to be fair, the first tracks I listened to were Nutritious - Dreamscape, Oinkness - In Joy and Sorrow, Abadoss, DA, Nutritious - My Child, and Avaris - The Last Fatima (which was a nice one). I hadn't listened to the whole thing, so it wasn't really a complete assessment. I do love quite a bunch of these tracks, but it'll take me more listens to appreciate the whole thing I think. I think this is pretty good though overall, more than my expectations.

Way to single me out. :P

Sorry man, but those issues stuck out way too much for me to not comment on it.

[avaris]

Avaris - The Last Fatima (which was a nice one).

WOW thanks dude. That is basically my oldest track. I started that over 3 years ago; and finished it well over 2 years ago, back when I had absolutely no business writing anything orchestral. Almost pulled it from the project as well.

[Orange Pylon]

I went ahead and advertised this in the Shacknews "forum", so hopefully this will bring the project some extra love. Downloading the torrent now, but I love what I've heard so far!

[Emunator]

Just finished my impressions/mini-review of the first disc in my post on the first page. That was quite a ride!!

I also wanted to say that I hate you all eternally for releasing this on the Sunday night that I was saving for a homework cramming night :tomatoface: Way to keep me distracted!:-P

[Pander]

Just finished my impressions/mini-review of the first disc in my post on the first page. That was quite a ride!!

I also wanted to say that I hate you all eternally for releasing this on the Sunday night that I was saving for a homework cramming night :tomatoface: Way to keep me distracted!:-P

Haha, I'm in the same boat. Tackling nuclear engineering while also trying to groove to new music is pretty hard. Studying works best with familiar brain-turn-off music, so this night has been wasted on the educational front. Musical front though? Gold mine.

[Bahamut]

Haha, I'm in the same boat. Tackling nuclear engineering while also trying to groove to new music is pretty hard. Studying works best with familiar brain-turn-off music, so this night has been wasted on the educational front. Musical front though? Gold mine.

Wait what? You're from Champaign too? Do you also go to UIUC? I'm in the mathematics department myself...and I too lost a night of studying ha.

[KyleJCrb]

Congratulations on the release, guys. I haven't had a chance to listen to any of it yet, but I'm seeding the torrent and will give it a listen when I have the chance.

[nrich]

just pointing out that whomever renamed my track to 'lacan divided' didn't do the mp3's... quite a bummer and was initially confusing ;p

still glad this finally came out. i love love love it

[Emunator]

Alright, my review is all finished. Thanks to all involved for contributing to this!! I'll have some other words tomorrow but I wanted to get that in before the night was up!

[Wintermute]

Binary Chain A bit less intense than the rest of the Gears disc up to this point, but the bouncy synth seems appropriate for the source tune. It's a nice mellower (but still engaging and fun) followup to the ear-busting goodness that preceded it.

Thanks, glad you enjoyed it. :)

[Pander]

Wait what? You're from Champaign too? Do you also go to UIUC? I'm in the mathematics department myself...and I too lost a night of studying ha.

Yep, hanging out in Talbot til the wee hours as usual. Nuke Eng (obviously). Grainger's just too noisy sometimes.

Shit on Citan...I wish it would work, and perhaps be a little more prog and less garage, but it's garage. Kickdrum needs way more oomph, it sounds soo timid. Vocals need a blue snowball or something, it sounds like they're singing into a webcam (they sound too low-quality, even if they were SUPPOSED to be low).

A Between the Buried and Me style prog-screamcore would have been absolutely fitting and awesome to close out Gears (Citan White Walls ftw?), instead this one more represents the kind of humorous track you'd find in the average project album's bonus section. Regardless, I'm glad to see something in this vein represented amongst the mixes.

[POCKETMAN]

Take Flight Nice percussion in the intro, that's a high point for me! This far exceeds everything I've heard from you, Clay, and it's nice to finally see you get your work out to the masses! Thanks for doing justice to my favorite song off of the soundtrack!!

Thanks man. Good to hear. This track is pretty old for me now.

[ilp0]

Congratulations! killer album!
Just heard the human album and liking so much! good job, very nice quality in all the mixes. The album sounds cohesive as well, nothing deviates too much from the mood or the soundscape. Perfect chill-out music. Cool webpage as well. big win the whole thing :) :) :)
EDIT: Oops, wrong thread, sorry...

[evktalo]

I should be studying for an exam too.. oh well. Nice to see the release happening. I'm also enjoying the disc one so far - just four tracks in, and it feels pretty good.

Quickening was pretty, perhaps even beautiful. A calm opener - the subtle electronic textures used with the guitar were a nice touch.

Of Sea and Fire was a fun jam on one of the themes that stuck to my mind the best from the game. I do agree with a previous comment that it could've been shorter.

Shattered Dreams gave me goosebumps with it's twists and turns. The beginning sounded a bit quiet, but it turned out well and interestingly arranged. I'll return to this track for sure.

Cybernetic Love had great groove, and I enjoyed the funky, distorted guitar.

The website looks *very* good! Great job all around it seems!

--Eino

[Emunator]

Haha, good to see we've all got our priorities straight :tomatoface:

Quick question though... Aren't Prometheus and John Revoredo the same person? The DQD history thread seems to imply so, so I'm curious if they were just accidentally listed as 2 separate artists on the project, or if a completely different artist named Prometheus showed up and contributed a track, too 8-O

Also, in case any updating will ever be done to the website, "Kira of Trance" should redirect to electric concerto's (http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=14517) profile here on the OCR forums. I noticed he was one of the artists that didn't have any sort of link attached to his name, but should have.

[Level 99]

Don't let Level 99 read your comments otherwise he'll prob cry...no seriously! :)

F-you, Avaris. That'll be the last time I guilt you into collabing with me at the very last second! :nicework:

1) Thanks for all the wonderful comments. I'm just glad I could be a part of something this grand and fantastic, the same way I felt about being on the FF4 project, yo!
2) I really love the divided feel of the project. Even though it has some of the same songs repeated on both discs, the different approaches really makes this project show the versatility that Mitsuda imbued his source tunes with, and the wide ranges of talent that the arrangers brought to the table.

I'll be doing some write-ups this week when I get the time. I didn't love every track out the wazoo, but I did love most of them...out the wazoo.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

I absolutely love this project.

Crash + Restore, Of Sea and Fire, Zeno Paradox, and Binary Chain are mind-blowingly brilliant. I could listen to those four tracks on repeat all day.

EDIT: also, another track worth mentioning: oinkness's. There are indeed some production issues, but I love the arrangement, and the lyrics are right in the middle of that so-cheesy-it's-awesome zone.

[XZero]

Just downloaded, currently seeding. Only listened to a few tracks so far, but really solid stuff. Excellent job, everyone!

[justinj212]

Torrenting, will seed.

If you're interested the album, I conducted an interview with project director Avaris in which he sheds some light on the development of this project. Definitely a good listen. You can find it on the latest episode of my podcast (http://feeds2.feedburner.com/RadioFreeGamerPodcast), if you are interested!

[ziwtra]

I would just like to give a big thanks to Jose, David and Larry for putting an incredible amount of time and effort into pulling this off and making the whole process go smoothly. Releasing an album on OCR could not be easier or more rewarding. Thank you!

[avaris]

I would just like to give a big thanks to Jose, David and Larry for putting an incredible amount of time and effort into pulling this off and making the whole process go smoothly. Releasing an album on OCR could not be easier or more rewarding. Thank you!

From the eternal glory of Patrick Swayze: "Ditto"


John Revoredo and Prometheus are the same person. He asked me to use both names since the tracks were completed so far apart.

Sorry about the tagging Nathan. :(


Thanks for listening everyone!

[Catharsis]

I'm totally flipping out right now. I had no idea an album was even being worked on for this. This was one of my favorite (if not THE favorite) RPGs ever. I also loved the music. On top of that, I was just thinking the other night, "What would be a good album for OC Remix to do next?" I check the site today to find this, and flipped out. I've only listened to two tracks, but I'm loving it so far.

[avaris]

Congratulations! killer album!
Just heard the human album and liking so much! good job, very nice quality in all the mixes. The album sounds cohesive as well, nothing deviates too much from the mood or the soundscape. Perfect chill-out music. Cool webpage as well. big win the whole thing :) :) :)
EDIT: Oops, wrong thread, sorry...


Thanks dude! :)

[Genoism]

I don't post very often (as you would tell by my post count if there was one) but i felt I had to leave some comment.

A huge thank you to all those who made this album happen. Its really damn awesome. I'm not one of those ppl who steals music online and I'm too poor to justify spending money on music. So my only way of getting free music has been mainly through ocr. So when an album pops up like this I'm always super excited to hear a whole new batch of music.

So big props to you all and thanks ^_^

[LuigiFan]

My first thought when I saw the e-mail about the new album was, "Already? They just released one!" Then I got around to listening to it, and I can definitely tell that a lot of work went into this album. My opinion? This blows both Summoning and Echoes out of the water. I'm not very familiar with the source (I know, cardinal sin, right? I'll get around to playing it eventually), but this album is absolutely beautiful. The Humans disc is emotionally moving and comforting, and the Gears disc is hardcore and cold, and I think this album balances them both very nicely. Excellent job to all of those involved - keep up the most awesome work! I will be playing this for weeks!

[Taran]

Edited because I missed the portion where you stated exactly what I heard in the track listing. Apologies for the mistake. In any case, the album is pretty good so far. Glad someone was able to put this together, and it's nice to see something come along that may give the Super Metroid album a run for its money.

[Reforged]

Omen (R3 Mix) The opening sounds crazy on headphones, great bass! Only 30 seconds in, the distortion is already kicking my ass to the ground, and it only improves from there! This definitely feels like one of the highlights of the Gears disc, especially when things pick up around 2:55... that's just crazy!


Thanks! I appreciate the support. ^_^

[prophetik music]

whoa, john revorendo and prometheus are the same guy? that'd explain why i've not really heard of him but love his stuff.

[Catullus]

OMFG Ziwtra is back!!!! you have no idea how happy this has made me. Its been a couple years (too long) for my favorite remixer and when gaps like that happen you always wonder if there will be another song and then out of nowhere there are 3. It feels like its my birthday and Christmas and some other awesome holiday all happening at once.

Xenogears is my favorite game and right there with Chrono Trigger as having the best videogame soundtrack of all time.

Im excited to listen to the whole album though and im sure you guys all did an amazing job.

THANK YOU ALL! Today is the best day of 2009 and its not even close

[DJ Mighty]

I have to stand up and Applaud Avaris!
Bravo to "The Last Fatima", loved it!
ok now i have to go back and listen to the rest of the album

[avaris]

I have to stand up and Applaud Avaris!
Bravo to "The Last Fatima", loved it!
ok now i have to go back and listen to the rest of the album

Holy poo! Thanks. :)

[pilif]

I just listened through the album. Holy sh*t, this was great.

I might be a slight bit biased though as Xenogears and I go back a very long time and I still think that I have never played any better game than Xenogears nor heard any better in-game music that Xenogears.

Still. This was so much fun to listen to and this is for sure staying in my daily listening-while-writing-code rotation.

Now tell me: Is there any way I can make a donation?

[SwordBreaker]

So glad to see this project released earlier than expected. 2009 is indeed an active year for OCR!

I pimped out the release for our game website here: http://www.projectcoe.com/blog/2009/10/19/humans-gears-xenogears-remix-project-released/

Now I simply need to listen to the material and write off a review or some impressions. As always, good work in pumping these things up, people.

BTW, you guys are in Kotaku now so expect some insane traffic.

[The Vagrance]

I just wanted to post and say thanks to Foxhull and especially Avaris for coordinating this. I showed interest early on dropped out and it was gracious of you to let me back on the project and wedge a track in. Overall the project sounds fantastic and it was great to be a part of it.

Who says sum noob can't make a project?

[Black Mage]

Loving "When the Smoke Clears"! I could tell that was a Taucer before I even noticed the artist data.

Can't say I care at all for "Shit on Citan," though. The whole death metal thing just doesn't work for me.

Great album, though! Certainly one of the best, to date.

[DragonAvenger]

Now tell me: Is there any way I can make a donation?

http://ocremix.org/info/Supporting_OverClocked_ReMix

There's the about. HOWEVER, since the redesign has removed the sidebar, the link to paypal seems to be surprisingly missing. That will be fixed soon, I'm sure.

I'm holding off my real post here until I can sit down and get a really good listen in.

[Liontamer]

just pointing out that whomever renamed my track to 'lacan divided' didn't do the mp3's... quite a bummer and was initially confusing ;p

Bah. I got the letter about that but didn't have much time to read it. I mentally glossed through (if we cannot change the title, replace "lacan divided" with "of God and Man") to replace "lacan divided" with "of God and Man". And THAT's how you learned to love your original mix title. :tomatoface:

[Otakatt]

I'm in the process of listening to this now! :) Will comment more as I progress, but so far it's sounding mighty fine. Site looks neat, and I liked the video on the front page of OCR. Props to whoever was responsible for that.

[avaris]

I'm in the process of listening to this now! :) Will comment more as I progress, but so far it's sounding mighty fine. Site looks neat, and I liked the video on the front page of OCR. Props to whoever was responsible for that.

Ziwtra did the website and Jose the Bronx Rican did the video. :)

[Gario]

I've been waiting for this one for a while, now - all I've got to do is download it somehow on my terrible connection (patience and time - two things I lack :-x). Nonetheless, congratulations on the release - I'm sure it's incredible (and I'll try to verify that as soon as I download the album).

[Metalgear132]

Loving "When the Smoke Clears"! I could tell that was a Taucer before I even noticed the artist data.

Can't say I care at all for "Shit on Citan," though. The whole death metal thing just doesn't work for me.

Great album, though! Certainly one of the best, to date.

I like Metal but Shit on Citan was just absolutely terrible. Not a way I would have loved to end the album.

[E-Bison]

Xenogears was fun and I was happy to be able to re-live it with you guys. Thanks for keeping it together Avaris. There is sooo much strong work on this project.

Holy crap Vagrance! I wasn't expecting something like that here. I love your track. Siamy, Taucer, Ziwtra seriously, your tracks made my day.

[Crescent Shadow]

Ok... whilst I sit here and try to figure out exactly -how- to respond to CHIPP's guitar axe to the face track...

I'd just like to thanks to Nathan Rich for finally giving me a remix of my favorite Xenogears track. I always thought Grahf's theme deserved some love. And this one delivers... albeit in a way i didn't expect.

And lastly... gotta comment on 'Welcome to the Human Race'. I was a big fan of '31 seconds.' And, honestly, I think this one deserves a spot up there right next to it.

Awesome work all around guys.

[Tricklozen]

First listen; first comments:

There were some stuff of varying quality.

"Of God and Man (Grahf, Emperor of Darkness)" stuck with me as repeatable goodness.

As usual, I had the music playing in the background; might comment more later as I get a chance to listen again.

[Arcana]

Still working on listening through this one, but the opening track turned my head. And Vampire Hunter Dan's track me really look up and check that I wasn't transported back in time to when I was playing Xenogears.

It's awesome so far, and very nostalgic.

[evktalo]

Continuing with the first disc mini-reviews. (the exam went well by the way, hehe)

When the Smoke Clears has a great story behind it, and it's no wonder the track sounds so heartfelt emotional. The guitar sound is very beautiful, and I love that slap(?) percussive effect adding a little sting to the whole, poignancy even. I like the dressed-down solo guitar more than the more arranged section, but I've nothing to complain.

Sequencing a full orchestral track on an album like this can't be easy. It's not entirely smooth here either, but damn Ship of Emotion and Song is a good piece. Hands-down my favourite from Vampire Hunter Dan yet. The piece covers a lot of territory, but stays both interesting and together. The final two minutes are my favourite.

Take Flight sounds good, and is very fitting for the flight theme. The structure is a bit weird, aborting into something else that ends quite suddenly.

The Last Fatima is easily my favourite piece from Avaris. Gorgeous sounds on top of restrained percussion.

I've liked pretty much all things Fishy I've heard yet, plus this is one of my favourite themes from the game. The deliberately paced prog-rock treatment in Echoes goes down well with me, for the most part. There's a section with some conflicting notage at 03:06-03:46. The lead sounds jarring at 3:11, 3:14 and 3:20-3:22, but I think the main thing is that the descending background guitar figure doesn't quite gel with itself.

My Child has probably the best DragonAvenger vocals yet, and the piece is quite gorgeous as a result. The lyrics are hard to hear for me too, but I don't mind that with this sound and melody. To nitpick, I hear some slight weak points with some beginnings of phrases and some intervals, but overall it's a powerful performance. The rest of the arrangement is good, but when the vocal is so strong, I wish the arrangement would have concentrated more on supporting it. Towards the end, it even seems to compete with it for attention. I believe a stronger overall piece could have resulted, although what is here is very good and enjoyable.

The Treasure That Must Be Seduced is a pleasant combination of guitar and orchestral elements. I think there was a chords on the guitar that make me go a bit ???, but overall, it's good.

In Joy and Sorrow is a romp with good, fun vocals. I find the rough sound fits the piece, although the drums (snare, hats and ride at least) sound sort of flimsy - a rougher, darker sound for these I think would've fitted in better. This one surprised me in a good way.

New Day combos a fun bass line and chopped up drums with more orchestra elements effectively and interestingly.

Welcome to the Human Race is a strange one. The orchestra and rock elements feel fairly separate in both mixing and arrangement. The 00:34-00:46 section and it's later variations sound quite dissonant and I can't quite grok them. But it seems to tie together somehow. When I stop listening for certain kind of cohesiveness, it starts to make sense in an "audio sculpture" kind of way.

First Meeting has style and sound I enjoy, but it feels like it's constantly introing up to something for the whole duration. (It's also a bit quiet after the previous track.)

I love the concept/story behind Akkadia Rising (Solo Sax Edit) and it's pulled off successfully. The floaty production, the sound and playing all work.

The chill-out zone ending of the first disc closes with A Trace of Tears. Acid jazz! This is obviously a fruitful collab, good performances all around.

Looking forward to disc two. The album has so far surpassed my expectations. I've played the game quite recently, and the moments where I recognize a theme and it's taken to a new place are really fun.

--Eino

[prophetik music]

thanks for the nice words, eino!

[pu_freak]

Congrats on the release guys!

[Chris8282]

Well if you want to get technical, a compact disc can't hold 1gig worth of information, so FLAC is much more than lossless -- they actually hold a butt-ton of useless file size. Even the 16bit wav files for a CD usually don't go over 600mb with all tracks included...


Uhmm ... It's called two discs. it's 900MB (Almost 1Gb) because there's two discs. Two 450Mb discs. Weren't you in this project? Shouldn't you know this better than anyone else?

Anyways, props to all involved. Just finished listening to most of it, and, as usual, the OCRemix community DOES NOT disappoint :D

[Level 99]

Prepare for part one of three/four posts. This is what I have done for now on my full album review of Xenogears, the later parts coming later in the week. Enjoy!

Quickening: Since this is my own track, I’ll just give a little bit of backstory behind it. While talking with Avaris one day, the conversation was turned towards the project and, in a very ridiculous way, I asked if there was a song left to do that hadn’t been done. He jokingly told me that Faraway Promise had not yet been arranged and that if I could have the ReMix for him by the next evening, it’d be on the project. 2 hours later, Avaris had my preliminary guitar tracks for editing and mastering. I asked to collab, and Shaun really pulled out the environmental sound and solid guitar backing for this one. The result was a very “humans” approach to Faraway Promise, and what I hope was a nice last-minute addition to the project. I’m glad I could take part!

Of Sea and Fire: I’m still floored by this track. The attention to detail and accuracy of conveying the garage-bandy style. It never feels too long to me, and the source tune shines through in ways I could have only imagined. It isn’t surprising that there’s already been some usage of this as a floor routine, and I’m sure some AMVs on youtube will be sporting this track in the very near future. The instrumentation is amazing, with the piano, accordion (?), and fiddle really carrying the song to new heights. One can see, in their mind, the “members of the band” just playing off of each other, musically energized, and enjoying every second of the performance. Ziwtra…I am in awe.
Shattering Dreams: A very haunting piano slowly brings in further organic instruments in this arrangement. While I feel like everything is played very very well, it is a little on the plain side in my perspective. It doesn’t make the song any less of an achievement, as I could easily fall right to sleep to this. Definitely feeling a “Titanic” vibe here besides the Japanese instruments, and I the strings are extremely solid underneath the leading instruments.

Cybernetic Love: I did not expect this, though looking at the title, I probably should have. This is what I imagine a dance night on the main ship in Phantasy Star Online would have playing on the PA. This combines a multitude of retro styles, from classic rock backwards guitars to 80’s synthplay and almost-too-cheese drum samples. The robotic voice-synth is a perfect fit. I honestly would have liked to have heard some more variation in the guitars, but what’s there is well-played and perfectly mastered. Solid execution and a catchy nostalgic charm from the cornucopia of style-blending. Piano at the end is a somber lead for the narrative sample, which makes the ending quite moving.

When the Smoke Clears: I have the great pleasure of being friends with Mr. Taucer in real life, and he’s always been a caring person, right down to the core of his being. He doesn’t take things for granted and values the people in his life to the nth degree, and his heart-wrenching story about his concern for his kids as a coach makes this abundantly clear. He didn’t even need to write the story verbally except to clarify exactly what happened, because the song itself tells the story beyond words. The guitar is the best I’ve heard him ever perform or write, and his Irish Flute work left me near tears while listening the first few times. This song is so completely moving that there’s no way I can do it justice with a writeup, as you can literally feel the “relief after tragedy” pouring out of every note.

Ship of Emotion and Song: Oh, Vampire Hunter Dan, when will you ever stop writing these incredible orchestrations? I don’t have much to say here, simply because if you know VHD, you already know to expect top-quality material. If you’re new to VHD, expect some jaw-dropping classical composition with great variation and smooth transitions. He seems to use every instrument to its fullest potential. I would say that this even surpasses some of the compositions used on the orchestral tours, like Distant Worlds. The only drawback is that this piece is particularly long, but if you like the style it shouldn’t be a problem. For people who only like electronic or rock and don’t have a lot of patience to sit through orchestral exposition for almost 8 minutes, this might not be your cup of tea. If you are willing to give it a shot, you’re more-than-likely going to immerse yourself in this song for its entire length.

Take Flight: It’s pretty hard to follow up VHD with another orchestral arrangement, but this one holds up quite well. There are some issues I had with certain parts of the production, but this song was still written with care for the source. Very floaty feel, but also very short for an orchestral piece. I’ll be interested in hearing what POCKETMAN does next just to see where he goes from here.

The Last Fatima: Despite being one of the oldest mixes on the project, this is one of the standouts. The style, imitating the same techniques as the score of “Last of the Mohicans”, is top-notch. Has a half-riverdance feel to a lot of it. Though there are some small things I could say might have been done better, I don’t think I should because it may have ruined what’s already there. Despite any issues, this song, as a result of its style and composition, can now claim the source inspiration to be considered fully realized. Cinematic and inspiring.

Echoes: FISHYFISHYFISHY! Here, Fishy Fishy…This also has a cinematic feel to it, and for some reason reminds me of a Pink Floyd/Fleetwood Mac intermingling. Guitar is great, but the drums are a little on the plain side, though it was done before Fishy was really established and can be a perfect reminder of just how far Mr. Fishy-guy has progressed. The bottom line: it spins the source in an unexpected way, and though some of the supporting instruments may be a little weak, the guitars more than make up for it and pretty much steal the show. Putting this on my make-out disc right now…

My Child: What is with all this awesome orchestration?! Powerful opening chords lead into the lullaby portion, and everything is gorgeous and soothing. Xenogears movie? This would be in it, for sure. Another song where I can’t do justice to it with words, this is something that needs to be listened to in order to be understood.

[Arcana]

Uhmm ... It's called two discs. it's 900MB (Almost 1Gb) because there's two discs. Two 450Mb discs.

If you're going to correct someone the facts should be right... a CD holds 650 MB of data (about 74 minutes) though most have a capacity of 700 MB (80 minutes).

Anyway...

Listening to the Gears disc now. One thing I really liked about the albums so far was the thematic idea of using more soft, organic instruments for the first disc, and gritty, distorted sounds for the second disc. So far it's held together extremely well and gives the album a nice cohesive feel.

[Brandon Strader]

Uhmm ... It's called two discs. it's 900MB (Almost 1Gb) because there's two discs. Two 450Mb discs. Weren't you in this project? Shouldn't you know this better than anyone else?

Anyways, props to all involved. Just finished listening to most of it, and, as usual, the OCRemix community DOES NOT disappoint :D
Hey. I forgot! I've been up until almost 6am every night so my brain isn't always in the right place. But still, I think 320kbps MP3s are just as good for listening purposes as huge, almost wav-quality flacs. You can't even put flacs on an mp3 player. I guess I just really don't like flac or see the point in it too much. They could have just put the WAV files in the torrent instead so people could burn CDs with the source files.

Well... Anyway, thanks to the people who liked my song! And I really think the whole thing turned out great. I was really impressed by everyone's work. It seems like there's so much more to grasp onto with this album than some of the previous albums... more active material, less passive. It's good. ^_^

[Pander]

I agree wholeheartedly with the Oinkness on the 320kbps MP3 vs. FLAC. But then again, thanks to the wonders of bittorrent I don't have to choose to d/l them, so yay choice!

Just listened to VHD's piece. Wow at the last two minutes. EMOTION. I love it.

[jmr]

You can't even put flacs on an mp3 player.Speak for yourself.

[John Revoredo]

BEST COVER ART EVER.

On the album: awesome music, I really enjoyed ALL tracks. Level 99, Prophet of Mephisto, Avaris, CHIPP , Vampire Hunter Dan,... everything was awesome. My personal favorite is Smooth Criminals, by The Vagrance. Absolutely ass kickin'.
Oh, and awesome video too! José the Bronx Rican did a fantastic job here.

BTW: Yeah, Im Prometheus and John Revoredo :tomatoface:. Prometheus id was used because "Cybernetic Love" was a really old mix, and i don't like old stuff mixed with new stuff LOL. Also, Prometheus was my old name around OCremix.

[k-wix]

As a person who has (I know, you guys are going to kill me.) actually never played Xenogears, take it as a high compliment when i say that this is one of my favorite remix albums out of the site thus far. Amazing music, props to the artists involved.

[Arrow]

Pimpage at Joystiq (http://www.joystiq.com/2009/10/20/overclocked-remix-releases-xenogears-fan-tribute-compilation/)

[Siamey]

Thanks to Avaris for being an awesome director and keeping at me to finish stuff but not making me feel like a fail. He will be a good parent

[avaris]

Thanks to Avaris for being an awesome director and keeping at me to finish stuff but not making me feel like a fail. He will be a good parent

8-O ZOMG thanks dude!

My 5 year old niece is enough for me right now haha.

[POCKETMAN]

Just listened to VHD's piece. Wow at the last two minutes. EMOTION. I love it.

I've been saying that for like 2 years now.... great song.

[playingtokrush]

Problem connecting to tracker - timed out

o god hrelp

[Pander]

Problem connecting to tracker - timed out

o god hrelp

Can you go to the website and d/l songs individually? I had to do that on my laptop since the school's wifi didn't allow torrents.

[Dj Mokram]

The trailer by Jose is stellar, and the preview sounds fantastic.
I'm holding off on hearing more till the listening party... the wait is excruciating though. :mrgreen:

[Genoism]

whoever said that Of Sea and Fire is too long is crazy, i can't get enough of that song. Yesterday at work i started listening to that song 9am at work and finished listening to it when i went to sleep at home lol

[Pander]

I thought it was too long the first listen-through, but it's felt shorter since then. I think the first time I was just impatient to just run through every song in an effect to hear everything.

On the other hand, I wish Pocketman's Take Flight lasted a bit longer.

[tebian]

Just wanted to say great job on the new work guys. I have been playing it all day at the radio and sent out notice to our fan clubs. Limit99 and Avaris your "Quickening" is my new favorite track, its always great to hear you mix it up with the guitar.

[Genoism]

I thought it was too long the first listen-through, but it's felt shorter since then. I think the first time I was just impatient to just run through every song in an effect to hear everything.

On the other hand, I wish Pocketman's Take Flight lasted a bit longer.

that makes sense, i was skipping all over to hear a little of everything too ^_^

[Emunator]

I thought it was too long the first listen-through, but it's felt shorter since then. I think the first time I was just impatient to just run through every song in an effect to hear everything.

On the other hand, I wish Pocketman's Take Flight lasted a bit longer.
That's EXACTLY what I felt too. I was really excited to get a feel for the whole album so putting such a long track right at the beginning threw me off a bit, but on repeat listens it hasn't bothered me as much and in fact I'm pretty appreciative of the length now :-)

[Darth Magus]

I can't help but notice that one of the most recognizable themes from Xenogears, June Mermaid, is missing from this album. Is that by design, or was it accidentally overlooked? It seems no one else has asked this question, so I'm curious as to why it was excluded, along with many of other themes.

Still, even without those tracks, it is a wonderful album.

EDIT - Never mind, I see October Mermaid, the alternate title of the song. There are some other themes that are missing, though that are pretty important to the story of the game. Solaris: Eden of Heaven is missing, as is "The Beginning and the End", two tracks which I think conveyed a lot of emotion into the game. The former because of the over the top pomp and pageantry of the song, as arrogant as the nation of Solaris itself, and the latter because the voices are haunting and stick in your head for a long time. Not to mention that Small Two of Pieces, the dramatic ending theme of the game, is also absent. So, I'm still curious. :)

[Emunator]

Well, there was never any "rule" with the project that stated that the entire original soundtrack had to be covered, so if nobody wanted to take certain sources then that's just how it worked out.

[playingtokrush]

Can you go to the website and d/l songs individually? I had to do that on my laptop since the school's wifi didn't allow torrents.
It's working today, thankfully.

[Artemicion]

Obviously another great remix, had no idea this was in the works and I'm amazed that something as rare as Xenogears got done, fantastic.
Don't think I'm the guy complaining, this is great and I love it but... no remix of Small Two Of Pieces, which is like the emotional climax of the game and a great song to boot? Seems like a missed opportunity....

[avaris]

Quickening was actually specifically made bc there was no Small Two of Pieces mix. Even though it's only an instrumental of the melody/motif that is prominent in Faraway Promise it was the best we could do.

One of the things in running a project that covers *all the tracks* is that it extends the life of the project considerably. Given the already 3 years this was out; I did not think waiting another 1-2 years woulda been a smart thing. Given the HUGE soundtrack and the lack of wide spread support in the beginning it would have been impossible to deliver a quality project in a reasonable time frame. it's kinda all about checks and balances and working with what ya got! :) Luckily everyone worked their asses off on their mixes. I am truly thankful for all of the awesome people who made songs for this project. Thanks guys! :)

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Avaris and Foxhull: you had many doubters at the outset of this project (myself among them), but I gotta say you guys have pulled together something absolutely spectacular. Nice work!

[POCKETMAN]

On the other hand, I wish Pocketman's Take Flight lasted a bit longer.

Ya me too....

[avaris]

Avaris and Foxhull: you had many doubters at the outset of this project (myself among them), but I gotta say you guys have pulled together something absolutely spectacular. Nice work!

Thanks dude! No biggie; if I was in your position back then I would have taken a similar approach, especially if the game was one of my all time favs.

[kurokikaze]

Any chances of seeing this on last.fm? :)

[harbin91]

Been a viewer at this website for quite awhile now, yet never really signed up. Well, the first album I downloaded was Voices of the Lifestream, the FF7 album. I kinda liked, and thought that I'll see which other albums are on here. Needless to say, they are pretty good in my opinion. I quite like them.

I have just downloaded this today, and I am still listening to it. So far I have enjoyed this album, and seems like a good piece of work, especially with the more classical/orchestrated tracks.

Can't wait until the next album.

[Studio Eden]

Okay, first and foremost, I would just like to thank you guys for another great project. Amazing job and I look forward to all other projects you have in the future. I've been keeping tabs with OC Remix since it first opened up in '99 (and yes, I mean back when the download slots were between midnight and 6 in the morning - I can not BEGIN to tell you how many nights I stayed up with my crappy, dial up connection, trying to get these songs back then and it was still a decent size then) and I'm really impressed with how far everyone has come along.

Okay, so now with the review right? Xenogears is still, by far, one of my favorite RPG's of all time (definitely in my top 10). So when I came onto the website and saw that this was the new album project up for download, I immediately torrented it, went to class, came home and opened up both albums, listening straight through each one.

Humans: Oh...my...goodness. So, the instrumental pieces in this work were absolutely amazing. No disrespect to Mitsuda-san, but when I was listening through all of these tracks, part of me wished that these were the originals and not the actual ones themselves. I mean...damn. I was completely taken away with how everyone was able to keep the original score of the songs, not bothering to taint or change the main melody...but instead, transformed it into an original creation of their own. The vocals in this section were amazing as well. DragonAvenger has come a long way and I will admit, for the past few years, I have been an avid pixietricks fan and tend to be more bias towards her as a female vocalist. But after hearing DA's performance in both Thieves of Fate and the Humans portion of this Xenogears collaboration, I must say that those feelings must be thrown out the window. Vampire Hunter Dan's mix Ship of Emotion and Song was my favorite off of this section of the album and I enjoy how no part of the song was chopped up and obvious in its flow between one song and the next. I also agree that Pocketman's Take Flight could have been longer. But overall, great section of the album and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Gears: So, as stated before, I came straight home from school and listened to this. Which meant that I combined both albums, slapped them into my winamp playlist, and let it rip. I also didn't get a chance to watch the youtube trailer you guys made for the album, so I didn't quite understand the meaning behind splitting the album in half. Or at least I didn't understand the style difference you were insinuating when doing this. I figured it was just a random split like in Chrono Symphonic and didn't pay it much heed. However, when The Vagrance's Smooth Criminal popped up, that's when my eyebrows started to raise and the differences between Humans and Gears became quite evident. Invasion is probably one of my favorite "sewer/dungeon crawl" type songs ever written in that time frame of games, even to this day. So when I heard the glitch at the beginning of the song with the main melody, I immediately took a liking to it. The following track, Sleeper Dreamer by Siamey completely blew my mind. I mean, come on. Take a :30 second something track and transform it into a house technogasming experience? I commend you. However, R3FORGED's Omen (R3 Mix) is still my absolute favorite track on this entire album and it's well deserved considering he's been revamping this mix for years. The electronic, programming style that this was hoping to show definitely came through.

Overall, this album truly impressed me. It took a little getting used to and I probably should have watched the trailer video first. But then again, if I had, I don't think I would have really been able to appreciate the obvious differences you all, the remixers, attempted to make when creating Humans + Gears. A lot of hard work was put into this and I'm so happy you all did wonderful work for a game I felt has been long overdue for its just reward. I have yet to have been disappointed with any of the remix projects you all have created in the past, so I wasn't about to start doubting you guys now.

I look forward to the next remixing project. Your dedication and monstrous changes and improvements over the years have been well worth the drive to continue supporting and following you after all this time. You've never ceased to amaze me, even after 10 years.

And for that, I thank you.

[Bryan]

I just wanted to say that after listening to the first three mixes posted on the site, and loving each of them, I had to download the whole album! Looking forward to listening to it.

Great work!

[Jaredin]

Listened to the album, and loved it! It haas been a sincere pleasure and a audio dream!

I have been waiting for this one for a while and my wait was not one of dissapointment!

The website is also great, love the design and the box art, very, very cool!

I would agree with the above that the lack of a "Small of Two Pieces" remix is a little bit of a letdown, but it dosnt detract from the epic greatness of the album as a while

All of you should be proud of what you achieved!

[Level 99]

I'm posting it in here just in case people missed the main thread. There's a listening party tonight at around 7 PM EST, all info can be found here (http://ocremix.org/forums/showthread.php?t=25770).

Hope to see you all there!

[Darth Magus]

Quickening was actually specifically made bc there was no Small Two of Pieces mix. Even though it's only an instrumental of the melody/motif that is prominent in Faraway Promise it was the best we could do.

One of the things in running a project that covers *all the tracks* is that it extends the life of the project considerably. Given the already 3 years this was out; I did not think waiting another 1-2 years woulda been a smart thing. Given the HUGE soundtrack and the lack of wide spread support in the beginning it would have been impossible to deliver a quality project in a reasonable time frame. it's kinda all about checks and balances and working with what ya got! :) Luckily everyone worked their asses off on their mixes. I am truly thankful for all of the awesome people who made songs for this project. Thanks guys! :)

That's fair enough. It still would have been cool to hear something from those tracks, but it's understandable why you guys did not do them. What's there is amazing, so I'm certainly not complaining. :)

[Reforged]

However, R3FORGED's Omen (R3 Mix) is still my absolute favorite track on this entire album and it's well deserved considering he's been revamping this mix for years. The electronic, programming style that this was hoping to show definitely came through.

^_^

Thank you! I'm glad to hear you enjoyed it, as well as everyone else that has been voicing their opinion.

[Didaji]

Just finished downloading the album. I have listened to track 1 and 2 so far. I like this one alot. Thanks ! :)

[kurokikaze01]

Been a long time lurker/fan of OCReMix and it's crew. This album was amazing but there was one track that kinda had me do a double take really quick. "Wait... Is that.. moaning??? haha" I thought the track was pretty awesome and creative. Definitely wouldn't want to get caught on the train blasting that in my headphones though. XD

Congrats on another successful album.

[SelphieFF8]

I just gotta' say this was one of the most epic remix albums I have ever experienced. Thank you so much for making such an amazing work! The site itself and the album art were all just so amazing! I have it on loop xD Great job!

[Mini-Me]

I practically never post here (and I've been listening for nearly a decade), but I decided it would be borderline unconscionable not to write a "thank you" post after listening to Humans + Gears almost exclusively for nearly two weeks straight. ;-) I took a look at the original project thread, and MAN am I glad the noobs in charge marched on despite the initial pessimism. :nicework:

From the concept to the artwork to the music itself, this album is simply fantastic. In fact, it's so good that it completely renewed my interest in the Xenogears universe. There are even a few source tracks that I'm just now fully appreciating for the first time after hearing such good remixes on this album. Sure, a couple tracks weren't my favorite, a few others took some getting used to before appreciating their awesomeness, and there's no Small Two of Pieces (so nothing to bump Alexander Prievert's Broken Mirror out of playlist circulation ;)), but all in all, this just might be my favorite album project so far. To pick just two standouts for me from each disc which didn't hit the main page on OC ReMix, I'd go with Ship of Emotion and Song, Take Flight, October Rain, and Defective. Still, listing all of my favorites from this album would involve copying down almost the entire tracklist, so I'll refrain. This is enough of a gushing fanboy post as it is.

Anyway, I just wanted to thank everyone involved with this project for making it happen, and THANK YOU especially to Foxhull and Avaris for being the driving forces behind it!

[Catharsis]

Not much to say other than that this is now my favorite OC Remix album by far. And I LOVE many of the others, so that's saying a lot. I've always enjoyed the Xenogears soundtrack, and the "Creid" album. I'm quite pleased to see that this album does justice to just about every track.

Almost every time I listen to the whole album, I find a new favorite that I overlooked the first listen. My recent discoveries: "Crash / Restore" is absolutely fantastic, and I all but dismissed it at first. The same goes with "Dreamscape". I'm sure others will suddenly occur to me that are also fantastic.

[linkspast]

Im about half way in to the Humans disc. And so far its all been very good. Never am I disappointed with the work done by you guys.
I have never heard the OST for this game or even played it for that matter, and still I find it enjoyable...
Another amazing album
Thanks OCR.

[DeepChild]

I've had this album on at work all week. It is simply beautiful. I don't want to mention any tracks as favorites because the entirety of the album is incredible. I started to do that, but I found myself writing out paragraph after paragraph of praise because I wanted to mention each track that I enjoyed. It quickly got out of hand.

So I'll keep it simple. Thank you so much to each of the artists that spent their time and great effort to produce these amazing pieces. You've created something wonderful here, and it's a joy to experience.

EDIT: I will comment on one track because I think it warrants it. "Daijiru" is indeed hot. The...percussion took me aback when I first heard it. However, by the middle of the track all the various elements blended so well that I'd forgotten how ridiculously obscene it all sounds. I'm a huge fan of both artists' work, and I love this piece, but...damn.

[Genoism]

am i crazy for wanting the Of Sea and Fire remix played at my wedding?
Wondering blasting that song will even sound good through whatever speakers will be there....

[Nutritious]

Almost every time I listen to the whole album, I find a new favorite that I overlooked the first listen. My recent discoveries: "Crash / Restore" is absolutely fantastic, and I all but dismissed it at first. The same goes with "Dreamscape". I'm sure others will suddenly occur to me that are also fantastic.

Thanks, glad you liked it :). Dreamscape is one of my older songs (and it shows, I think), so I'm glad to hear it's still enjoyable.

[Level 99]

Okay, fell a little behind with doing other things but I definitely need to wrap up these song reviews. I’m fighting that habit of starting things and not finishing them, so here goes!:

The Treasure That Must Be Seduced: Originally I had the impression this would be another song similar to AnSo’s Too Hot for Clothes mix, since I heard that one first, but while I may have been assuming incorrectly, I was not let down with the song. Nearly everything here is gorgeous, and even the acoustic guitar sample, which is not fantastic, suffices just as well due to excellent delay and the fact that all the other instruments used are great. It is probably impossible, in my opinion, to get sampled guitars to sound as good as real guitars would, or as convincing, and this one only suffers a small amount because of it. The song is extremely soothing, very nice work.

In Joy and Sorrow: I have to echo some small concerns that have been brought up about this song by others: the production is a bit lacking in areas. This is mix is definitely unique in that it takes a southern folk-polka-rock approach with vocals. Some really cool ideas here, and the lyrics are quite comical, which is a nice break from the serious nature of many of the other songs. Again, production holds this back from really breaking through though. Another one to throw to the learning process and it is still enjoyable if you’ve got an open mind. My own opinion is that this also feels like it was rushed and could have been polished and expanded a bit more. Some ideas feel like they were thrown in there just for experimentation and not truly tested to see how they mesh over time. Just keep progressing and learning from things like this!

New Day: While still very good, I think this is the weakest of Ziwtra’s songs on the project. Everything is mastered well, but the panning threw me off a little. Also, it feels like this took just a little too long to get started. A cool mesh of synth and organic stuff none-the-less, and the majority of the orchestral stuff reminds me a lot of Iwata’s and Sakimoto’s work on FFT. The bells are great too, and crescendos in the song are not jarring. It’s a faster-moving song but somehow still retains a good bit of a chill vibe.

Welcome to the Human Race: ….wow. John Revoredo, Paul Weaps, a ridiculous song here. You really do love those sound bits, don’t you? This song is awesome. The percussion and rhythmic reinforcement from synths gives the song a very pressured and “under fire” feel. The guitar is awesome, and fits the song great. The reverse speaking wasn’t my cup of tea, but that one small part I can live with. The strings…so simple but so great. Welcome to the Human Race, indeed. *hits repeat*

First Meeting – The Shadowed Forest: Soothing piano, reminds me simultaneously of writing for a mime-play and something from silent hill but with less dissonance. Not an uplifting song but it stirs the soul, the performance is pretty amazing. I can’t pick away the performance much since I am not very well versed in piano, so I’ll just call this like I hear it: beautiful. One instrument can truly convey so many things.

Akkadia Rising: Crazy processed saxophones. Well, looks like I have to jump on the bandwagon, cause this stuff is very cool. As it stands, I’m a fan of the full Akkadia Rising on Gears disc more than the solo sax edit, simply because this is still pretty but also seems a little too empty, even with all the delays, reverbs, and parts playing at the same time. A cool experiment to say the least. Bleeding Gums Murphy would be proud. Performance seems pretty flawless from a non-saxophone-knowledgeable standpoint, and it is well-mastered, with a cool arrangement on the source.

A Trace of Tears: Wow, what an all-star collab. No complaints here at all. I demand you listen to this song. I wouldn’t be surprised if I heard this in a movie soundtrack or on the radio at some point (if I listened to the radio, that is). Ending the disc on such a strong note…very yes.

End of Humans Disc, on to Gears Disc…

Zeno Paradox: Yeah, this is another song that I just can’t put into words due to overwhelming awesome, and yes I realize I use that word a lot. Shut up. Just listen to this one, I can assure you that you will find something to enjoy about it, if not enjoy everything. E-Bison has musical powers like a psycho crusher to the face.

Daijiru (Too Hot for Clothes): Ballsy move with those vocal samples, man. It paid off in my book, but I get the feeling not everyone will appreciate or enjoy it like I do. Arrangement is very cool, and you did a good job with keeping the locale’s feel and still adding some great spin on it. This a great car groove for me. Sexy!

And I'll hopefully be finishing this up soon enough.

[Brandon Strader]

People keep asking me what the lyrics are to my Xenogears track, and I don't have a file saved so I'll transcribe it from the MP3. I realize I have a fairly horrible lisp but I recognize my own voice enough to know what I'm saying, heh.


In Joy & Sorrow

I do not remember what happened; my memories have all gone away
I was a liability inside the gear that day

We set out to defeat the evil that culminates in our doom
A perilous trek from here to heck through the cloudy sky with you

[Chorus]

Above there was an explosion, a dimensional erosion
For you I can extend my hand and deliver you from destruction

"ahh"

[Chorus --
In joy and sorrow we find our way
underneath the sky so blue
there's nothing that I would rather see
than the sky, the clouds, and you ]

[Emunator]

Major props for using the word "heck" in a context that doesn't make it sound completely lame :nicework:

[Level 99]

And part 3!:

Crash + Restore: Not as good as “Of Sea and Fire” to me, but still very catchy. My only big complaint comes from being a guitarist: I really wish the acoustic guitar wasn’t synthetic and that it was an actual guitar. Other than that, this starts off very unassuming and then grows and never stops growing. Unique mixing of textures and hard-panning makes this mix stand out for me, and is very catchy once the grooves start to set their course. The latter half of the song is the strongest once the melody starts to switch up, a little after 2:30. Great “harmonic distortion” on the lead; Ziwtra truly is a jack of many trades.

Dreamscape: This did not immediately stand out to me. I actually called Avaris up after my first listen through and said “I love Nutritious’s work, and it was satisfactory but just didn’t grab me.” Then, I had the craving to listen again. And again. And then it didn’t leave my head for a solid week. This has to be laced with some kind of audio-crack, cause I needed a fix every so often for a while. While not an epic mix by any sort, this is one you can listen to on loop by itself for hours. The sax is great above all else, and the choice of pads and synths throughout is spot-on. There’s so much layering going on it’s hard to dissect it, but Mr. Nutritious-and-Delicious made something totally addictive here.

Wounded Soldier: the strings and brass were a bit harsh on my ears, but I found this mix to be satisfying from a dancey-standpoint. Not one of my more favorite tracks, but it’s still pretty good. Also a bit too short, now that I think about it. Please sir-or-ma’am, make it a little longer next time. It’s over before it gets really good!

Smooth Criminals: Two words – bad ass. This is a bad ass mesh of late 80’s early 90’s pop and indie-electronic style. I can’t figure out the best way to describe it as a whole, but the chopping throughout the entire song is masterful and shows true attention to detail. Nothing feels sloppy whatsoever. Great title as well.

Sleeper Dreamer: Now THIS is a nice long trance song. This got a lot of playtime on my trips to and from college park ever since I got my hands on the project files for Xenogears. Great chopped strings, subtle choice in leads, and overall just feels very well-arranged. It has that especially-good flow of staying the course without being entirely predictable. The swells were also mighty gorgeous during the breakdown. I bow to you, Siamey. I will personally request this song be played at some point this year to get the jamspace room bouncing.

Omen (R3Mix): If Avaris hadn’t showed me the original WIP of what you had planned, I’d say this was masterful. As it stands, I really wish you finished that first WIP! This song, however, is still fantastic on its own. Haunting and, somehow, it retains both human and gear qualities. The instrument wails are great for setting the mood, and the piano is processed to a fantastic degree to get this mechanic feeling. Very well done, though I also feel it is a little short. I have no problem hitting the repeat button though.

Akkadia Rising: Interesting groove here. Unique, to be sure. I like this version better than the solo sax because this just feels a good bit fuller and more rounded. Masterful sax playing though, and the production on this is great. Nice e-piano as well, every supporting bit does its job here. A must-listen for the originality here.

Devil Flare: I don’t even know if this counts as a call and response between the lead and the strings-buzzsynth, but its definitely SOMETHING like that. This has a very raw and aggressive feeling to it, which is both a good and bad thing – great for feeling aggressive, bad if you want to calm down when driving. It makes me feel like something urgent is going on and I need to get up and do something. The orchestral instruments used here are GREAT, hands-down.

Binary Chain: Another one of those mixes I just can’t describe in words. Listen. Listen now. The piano-lead sections alone make this mix a must-have on my playlist. For some reason, I’m reminded a good bit of Phil Collins, but only in a good way.
October Rain: Having this back-to-back with Binary Chain causes overwhelm-of-awesome. My only complaint is the snare sounds too processed and doesn’t have enough punch. Great collaboration otherwise, and everything is proper. Another “Listen now” track.
Of God and Man: Creepy way to start off, and didn’t take off early enough for me, but I guess that was not the intention of this mix. Makes feel genuinely unsettled, very very cool stuff nrich.

Dogma: Interesting opening, can’t say I was the biggest fan due to the detuning, though I know that was definitely intentional. Once the drums kick in, I started to enjoy it, and this was another genuinely creepy and unsettling mix.

Defective: This is a story told in music. Gorgeously done, folks. The center focus felt a little much during certain parts of the song, but that didn’t detract from the final result for me. And thus would end a great project for me…though there is one last song…

Shit on Citan: *sigh* Oh CHIPP Damage…I really used to be into this kind of music, and whether this be joke or not, I just can’t say it fits anywhere on this disc. I just….ahh man, why?! This kinda leaves a sour taste in my mouth, no matter how funny certain parts are, it really makes the album seem a little tainted in retrospect. I’m not trying to offend here, but I just really did NOT dig this song. Frowny faces from me here. Sorry, dude.

And thus ends my elongated reviews of the entire project. I’m going to go get some ice for my wrists now, that was a lot of typing.

[Wintermute]

Binary Chain: Another one of those mixes I just can’t describe in words. Listen. Listen now. The piano-lead sections alone make this mix a must-have on my playlist. For some reason, I’m reminded a good bit of Phil Collins, but only in a good way.
October Rain: Having this back-to-back with Binary Chain causes overwhelm-of-awesome. My only complaint is the snare sounds too processed and doesn’t have enough punch. Great collaboration otherwise, and everything is proper. Another “Listen now” track.

I think you may have confused these two. But thanks for the "Listen now" :)

[K.B.]

Hello there good remixers, organizers, and all others who made this project possible! I have listened to this album several times now and have found it to be undeniably awesome in both individual tracks and as an album as a whole. To the latter point: the flow between tracks was seamless, and my worries about the division between sides and non-chronological flow was quickly assuaged. To the former: I would like to comment on a few tracks that I found to be excessively awesome. No offense intended to any I don't mention, of course; the vast majority were at least entirely awesome!


104, Prometheus - Cybernetic Love.
How someone comes up with such an idea confounds me, but the new style (or, more appropriately, styles) worked completely. Swanky. Ranging from dirty guitar to delicate piano, as well as (considering the title) an appropriately fitting synth, this is one sexy piece. Well done, John Revoredo. I wouldn't mind putting my current handle on this one if I were you.

106, Vampire Hunter Dan - Ship Of Emotion And Song.
One of my favorite remixers covers one of my favorite vgms! And he does some stuff before then too :)! VHD is one of those remixers whose works are so incredible that they drive me to learn more about music so I can fully appreciate them. Also, VHD: it's what's for dinner (sorry, I had to). Not to end on a joke: you absolutely nailed Flight. I wish it were longer, but what is there is perfect.

109, Fishy - Echoes.
I heard that Gilmour. Well played, sir, on both counts.

115, Jormungand - First Meeting; The Shadowed Forest.
Oh, the restraint! The deliberate pacing is impeccable: it brings forth the suspense and mystery of the original in full color. And, as bLiNd commented in the listening party, the use of dynamics is excellent. Great interpretation, great playing.

203, Ziwtra - Crash/Restore.
Too much to say! To me, this is the most delightful work on the entire album; I find myself needlessly head-bopping along to it almost the entire way. But to simply say it's 'happy' would be a disservice; the intricacy and care taken in the creation of each section screams to be noticed. Every sound font, every layer fits; every melody is offset, balanced, or countered appropriately; and each varied section leads intuitively into the next. But to the emotions (oh, pun!): the feelings of longing (or fond remembrance), hope, and perseverance flood this work. I enjoy your remixes Ziwtra, but if this sheer brilliance is in part the product of computer problems then I would be willing to sabotage your files anytime!

206, The Vagrance - Smooth Criminal.
Stop-motion listening. That's how much I get that into this one. So yes, those beats are absolutely disgusting, so much so that sometimes when it comes on I'm so absorbed that I forget I'm listening to a remix. Then, once I realize that I go 'whoa, bonus!'. Quite silly, really. I also really like the use of same/similar sounds that were in the original. Not keen on the accelerating pace at the end, but it works within the album and it's a small thing in comparison to the sweetness that is the rest of this track.

207, Siamey - Sleeper Dreamer.
Five minutes out of fourteen seconds. How you people do something like this astounds me. I wish I could better praise this track, but I don't know my trance (or electronica in general), so suffice it to say that I thoroughly enjoyed every second of this.

208, R3FORGED - Omen (R3 Mix).
I want my subwoofer back... you killed it. It was worth it though. This is so oppressive and chilling that it makes the original Omen sound as comforting as a lullaby. This is a horror unfolding. The atmosphere starts to close in, the stark realization comes that this is very wrong and this isn't a dream, the shadows take form, and then the pace quickens to somehow leave this behind. And 2:22 is the pause at the edge of the abyss; a single rock clacks down the cliff. Then there is the struggle, frozen with fear, to turn around... and the sudden jolt of adrenaline that allows a desperate surge back through the darkness. It's futile. But they're not after blood, they're after the mind. And there is never, ever any escape from that. That's what I hear, anyway. I figure painting a picture depicting how utterly wicked and hopeless this is would work better than me fumbling for musical terms. This is horribly, horridly incredible.

211, Wintermute and Troy Lawlor - Binary Chain.
Welcome back, Wintermute! You've been missed! (And welcome, Troy Lawlor!) The electronic and the instrumental come together magnificently in this track. A very classy ending as well.

215, Avaris and Blue Magic - Defective.
Phenomenal. Everything builds, everything transitions into something more. But the panning! Starting at 0:35, it's use creates an entirely different atmosphere. 0:00 to 0:35, you have the real. 0:35 onward, the illusory, the unconscious suppression is highlighted in increasingly overriding monaural sound. With menace. And then it fades - into stereo, into the unknowing consciousness. And then the real and the imaginary intertwine until nothing is certain. A more fitting tribute to the source tune I could not imagine.


Thanks again to everyone who had a hand in this. This is one of my favorite games, and one of my favorite soundtracks, and you all have done it more than justice.

[underthesun]

This album makes me glad I check back to OCremix every once in a while.. I'm only onto the second song of the album and I'm already inclined to comment on it :D

update: after listening to these, I have to comment on how great Binary Chain is. Just can't stop listening to it..

[Liontamer]

Shaun, why was there a Last of the Mohicans theme cameo in "The Last Fatima"? Sure sounds like it; just found it interesting, as I haven't seen that movie in maybe 12 or 13 years.

[avaris]

Shaun, why was there a Last of the Mohicans theme cameo in "The Last Fatima"? Sure sounds like it; just found it interesting, as I haven't seen that movie in maybe 12 or 13 years.

Haha, yeah I am a huge fan of that movie and its main theme. I had a goal of making a song in the vein of that theme and found the Aveh source tune to have the proper traditional irish motifs to achieve the necessary feel for the mix. :) Given that this was a project track I thought it was a great opportunity to take a chance and make a mix that paid homage to different inspirational tracks. I started this track in the fall of 2006 and finished in early 2007. By far my oldest track amongst my stuff up on OCR.

[Wintermute]

211, Wintermute and Troy Lawlor - Binary Chain.
Welcome back, Wintermute! You've been missed! (And welcome, Troy Lawlor!) The electronic and the instrumental come together magnificently in this track. A very classy ending as well.


Thanks very much! Glad you enjoyed the track.


update: after listening to these, I have to comment on how great Binary Chain is. Just can't stop listening to it..

Best praise I can possibly receive. Thanks for downloading the album!

[monieyang]

Thank you for a wonderful album. I normally don't log into the forums, but I just had to, today. I can't even begin to imagine the headaches associated with making this into reality. Keep up the great work!

[Esker]

It is a really good album, better than average musics published on the site. I usually hear all the musics except for two or three songs. Nice Work!!! :nicework:

[gohito]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x

[DragonAvenger]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x

When I watched the Lion King 1 1/2 it ruined the original for me, and ever since then I've made it my personal goal to ruin anything and everything for everyone else. I take this as a compliment.

[The Vagrance]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x

best review so far.

[avaris]

best review so far.

I cried like Halle Berry at the Oscars.

[Brandon Strader]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x
I'm sorry, it was my first actual remix and I didn't know what I was doing and I didn't put nearly enough time into it... Sorry avaris. I'd remake the song if it would make any difference at all today. :(

I still don't completely understand why you included it with the production issues being so bad (something that everyone always points out so it's pretty common knowledge at this point)

[KyleJCrb]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x

Just listen to the OST then. That's obviously what you want to hear.

[prophetik music]

You ruined FFVII and now this??.. how dare you even touch such a great soundtrack like that? it's one of the best soundtracks by Mitsuda.. you just ruined it with your lame originality.. why can't you make the recognizable remix?? don't try to be original by adding non-fitting chords or any bad sample choices.. please stop doing it!!!!!:-x

dude i'm so sorry! i'll stop mixing now. lame originality is seriously an issue on the internet - i just want to hear the same shit that's been around for eight hundred years...none of these non-fitting chords.

now get off my porch.

[Power Smoothie]

This has been nagging at me for a while now, so I might as well throw this one out there: is Prometheus' track at all inspired by Daft Punk's "Digital Love" from the Discovery album? ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP7N9_Q6hs ) I can see a stylistic similarity between the two tracks, not to mention the title, and the resemblance in the opening sweeps followed by the bass and drum line...

Perhaps I'm reading a bit too far into it, but it'd be interesting if anyone else had spotted this.

In any case, it's a fantastic track on a fantastic album :nicework:

[John Revoredo]

dude i'm so sorry! i'll stop mixing now. lame originality is seriously an issue on the internet - i just want to hear the same shit that's been around for eight hundred years...none of these non-fitting chords.

now get off my porch.

That was epic.

This has been nagging at me for a while now, so I might as well throw this one out there: is Prometheus' track at all inspired by Daft Punk's "Digital Love" from the Discovery album? ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dVP7N9_Q6hs ) I can see a stylistic similarity between the two tracks, not to mention the title, and the resemblance in the opening sweeps followed by the bass and drum line...

Perhaps I'm reading a bit too far into it, but it'd be interesting if anyone else had spotted this.

In any case, it's a fantastic track on a fantastic album :nicework:

Yup, that was the inspiration behind it, but somehow ended up pretty differently. Next time I'll get myself an effin' vocoder!

[gohito]

dude i'm so sorry! i'll stop mixing now. lame originality is seriously an issue on the internet - i just want to hear the same shit that's been around for eight hundred years...none of these non-fitting chords.

now get off my porch.

I didn't mean stop making Remixes, I meant stop doing it wrong..If you're trying to make a good remix at least hear the original one first.. secondly take a specific genre you like to listen to and you know what the samples you need to use for your mix.. then listen carefully what is the right chords at the right order.. that is the least I can give you..

If you wanna hear how to make a good remix listen to this!
http://remix.kwed.org/download.php/1967/Lagerfeldt%20-%20Dutch%20Breeze%20-%20Robocop%203%20%28Progressive%20Uplift%29.mp3

[Level 99]

I didn't mean stop making Remixes, I meant stop doing it wrong..If you're trying to make a good remix at least hear the original one first.. secondly take a specific genre you like to listen to and you know what the samples you need to use for your mix.. then listen carefully what is the right chords at the right order.. that is the least I can give you..

If you wanna hear how to make a good remix listen to this!
http://remix.kwed.org/download.php/1967/Lagerfeldt%20-%20Dutch%20Breeze%20-%20Robocop%203%20%28Progressive%20Uplift%29.mp3

The moment you tell anyone that what they're making in a creative fashion is "wrong", you've lost all credibility to your judgement. There is no right or wrong, proper or improper, or any of that. You're looking at this from a perspective that your opinion is fact, that what you're looking for in a remix is "right". Sorry, that's not how music works.

You're looking at remixes as if they were systematic upgrades to sound quality, not as interpretive arrangement. Therefore, you could basically plug the midis into a program and upgrade them without the human interaction. Not what we were going for here. No one's forcing you to listen to this, nor to like it, and it's offered for free regardless. Any objections founded on an idiotic principle such as "right remixing" are thrown out the window. The project coordinators are there to check for appropriate usage of the source, and the OCR staff does make sure albums submitted are up to at least some of the standards, so there's always a mix of the original as well as the arranger in there. Don't like it, don't listen.

*breaks out his guitar for a classic rock version of the Final Fantasy Prelude track with ALL THE WRONG CHORDS*

[gohito]

The moment you tell anyone that what they're making in a creative fashion is "wrong", you've lost all credibility to your judgement. There is no right or wrong, proper or improper, or any of that. You're looking at this from a perspective that your opinion is fact, that what you're looking for in a remix is "right". Sorry, that's not how music works.

You're looking at remixes as if they were systematic upgrades to sound quality, not as interpretive arrangement. Therefore, you could basically plug the midis into a program and upgrade them without the human interaction. Not what we were going for here. No one's forcing you to listen to this, nor to like it, and it's offered for free regardless. Any objections founded on an idiotic principle such as "right remixing" are thrown out the window. The project coordinators are there to check for appropriate usage of the source, and the OCR staff does make sure albums submitted are up to at least some of the standards, so there's always a mix of the original as well as the arranger in there. Don't like it, don't listen.

*breaks out his guitar for a classic rock version of the Final Fantasy Prelude track with ALL THE WRONG CHORDS*

Have you ever heard the Black Mages, Battle scene II.. It's almost unrecognizable but it sounds great.. try achieving that.. the whole point of remixes is to make it sound better.. you can't just take a complete master piece and put you unpleasant originality to it.. you can add solos or other stuff that FITS!!! you got the whole remix stuff so much wrong.. you nor I have the rights to change the melody of the original.. I you want to put your originality, make your own song, with out riding on the franchise..

if you treat review like that and making excuses and telling me not to listen to it, you just suck..

[prophetik music]

i'm not even going to deign that ridiculous tomfoolery with a real response. why don't you write some remixes and show us how it's done, arrangement jesus?

[djpretzel]

the whole point of remixes is to make it sound better.. you can't just take a complete master piece and put you unpleasant originality to it.. you can add solos or other stuff that FITS!!! you got the whole remix stuff so much wrong.. you nor I have the rights to change the melody of the original.. I you want to put your originality, make your own song, with out riding on the franchise..

if you treat review like that and making excuses and telling me not to listen to it, you just suck..

The point of ReMixing/arrangement is for artists to express themselves and their appreciation for VGM. Not to "make it sound better". We all have the "rights" to interpret things as we hear them. You seem to object to the entire concept of this website, in which case commenting on this album specifically makes little to no sense. If you didn't like it, you didn't like it, and that's fine. Just say that.

Any further posts saying we "suck" and missing the point as completely as you seem to be will be interpreted as trolling and treated accordingly.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Have you ever heard the Black Mages, Battle scene II.. It's almost unrecognizable but it sounds great.. try achieving that.. the whole point of remixes is to make it sound better.. you can't just take a complete master piece and put you unpleasant originality to it.. you can add solos or other stuff that FITS!!! you got the whole remix stuff so much wrong.. you nor I have the rights to change the melody of the original.. I you want to put your originality, make your own song, with out riding on the franchise..

if you treat review like that and making excuses and telling me not to listen to it, you just suck..

I'm sorry, but you're being an idiot here. Who the hell are you to tell other creative artists what the right and wrong way to go about their art is?

Take a look at Pachelbel's Ganon (http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR00753/). Chords are different. Hell, the melody is even different. Yet is 1) recognizable as Zelda's lullabye, and 2) Freaking awesome.

Use of source? Check. The artist's own added flair and creativity? Check. Awesome to listen to? Check.

This, my friend, is what we call a "ReMix."

[Liontamer]

Who cares about this guy? We already won.

http://twitter.com/YasunoriMitsuda/status/6323475639

Original composer likes it = we win.

[Skrypnyk]

the whole point of remixes is to make it sound better..

I lol'd

[Vampire Hunter Dan]

hahah
Epic.

[avaris]

Who cares about this guy? We already won.

http://twitter.com/YasunoriMitsuda/status/6323475639

Original composer likes it = we win.

Fo sho :nicework:

[Abadoss]

Woot! Now we just to hear from Uematsu on the FFIV and FFVII albums...

[DragonAvenger]

Woot! Now we just to hear from Uematsu on the FFIV and FFVII albums...

He's got copies of both, I wonder if he's listened to them...

[gohito]

Do you really think you are smarter than the original composer? only the original composer can add/remove the melody!

do you really think Mitsuda listened to it? you guys just pathetic.. As if, then where is Nobuo's response? ohhh the're none!

you can express you're "art" by making original songs but no one would even listen to it if there no great title behind it, right.. that's why I claim you suck!! you just using the name for spreading your "art". If you'd take money for this, that would be just ridiculous..

here is a great example how to make a proper remix:
http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01242/
you can learn something from him..

[prophetik music]

i think you're just jelous of are remixing abilitys, man.

Do you really think you are smarter than the original composer? only the original composer can add/remove the melody!

seriously now, this is possibly the stupidest comment i've ever heard in regards to the art of composition. do you KNOW what an arrangement is?

someone ban this damn troll. honestly, no one's this stupid - this has to be an alt.

ps: what does money have to do with anything? do you see prices per download here? that's so totally off the wall, i don't even know what to say.

pps: you edited your post to include one of my favorite remixes - i agree! that's a fantastic example of a remix. that is not the ONLY way to remix, though. that's like saying that photorealistic paintings on canvas with oil paints are the only real forms of artwork. where does impressionism go then? what about stuff like the sistine chapel? that's not photorealistic, but it's possibly one of the greatest forms of artwork in western culture. by your definition, that's actually a TRAVESTY because the guy who created the images portrayed in that work (aka jesus) didn't make it. ridiculous!

[Dyne]

Nice ban.

Anyway, on topic, nobody has the right to judge what is the right or wrong way to remix music. It's up to the individual artist to decide how they're going to interpret what they're remixing. If someone like this comes along and doesn't like it, obviously they've got a serious problem with creativity, or they just like to troll.

Either way, nice ban.

[The Damned]

If you claim that the original composer had it right and it shouldn't be altered in any way, but then said composer says he likes how someone remixed it... does that make gohito's head explode, or cave-in?

Oh wait, he's banned. I guess he can't tell us.

So, not having any real experience with Xenogears, I must admit I'm coming into this album with no idea what to expect.

I like the strumming guitar in Avaris and Level 99's "Quickening". It's relaxing and peaceful, kind of like something from a well produced anime soundtrack. I can see a quite village, sunny days with perfect clouds, and someone sleeping on the side of a hill overlooking the houses below.

Vampire Hunter Dan's "Ship of Emotion" reminds me of some of the Yoko Kanno stuff from Brain Powerd and Escaflowne. I love Escaflowne's music.

CHIPP Damage's "Shit on Citan" scares the hell out of me.

[Bahamut]

Woot! Now we just to hear from Uematsu on the FFIV and FFVII albums...

No clue about FFIV, but supposedly he saw a VotL shirt at a signing thing, pointed at it and said "That's awesome!"


I'll just say this - if there wasn't originality, then there would be no video game music by people like Uematsu or Mitsuda. Originality drives the creation of music like this, not conservatism.

[Liontamer]

Do you really think you are smarter than the original composer? only the original composer can add/remove the melody!

do you really think Mitsuda listened to it? you guys just pathetic.. As if, then where is Nobuo's response? ohhh the're none!

you can express you're "art" by making original songs but no one would even listen to it if there no great title behind it, right.. that's why I claim you suck!! you just using the name for spreading your "art". If you'd take money for this, that would be just ridiculous..

here is a great example how to make a proper remix:
http://ocremix.org/remix/OCR01242/
you can learn something from him..

I'm not mad as much as amused, because this guy doesn't know anything about our history. :lol:

1. Yes, I believe Mitsuda has listened to the album. We have a mutual friend. Even if not this particular work, he's heard our community's music. We've been around for quite a while.
2. We don't need any original composer's approval to justify interpretation.
3. We have musicians in this community who make their living writing original music.
4. We've had a AAA game publisher contract our musicians for music to a huge franchise, and obtained excellent reviews.
5. Thanks for linking to a Donkey Kong Country ReMix by one of the staffers involved in the music selection process here.
6. Thanks again for linking to a Donkey Kong Country ReMix. The original composer is a fan of OC ReMix and participating in our next album with fellow game composers who are also appreciative of what OC ReMix is doing.

Didn't I tell you we win? We really win. :lol:

[K.B.]

*breaks out his guitar for a classic rock version of the Final Fantasy Prelude track with ALL THE WRONG CHORDS*
*waits anticipatorily for this in the wip forum*

Woot! Now we just to hear from Uematsu on the FFIV and FFVII albums...
...and eventually to-be FFIX, FFX, and FFVI* albums...



*SLAM SHUFFLE?! Frickin SLAM SHUFFLE!

[JaDE ARaN HaRuNo]

Okay I never posted in here so I'm going to start now.

I will confess that this is my FAVORITE OCR project album. Sorry FFIV and FFVII. =P And btw, I never did play Xenogears so I don't know the soundtrack as well as I do with FF. I do plan on playing Xenogears in the near future and hopefully I get to express my experience afterwards. This project was clearly about the music and not about fame. Amazing job everybody.

Oh and whoever talks bad about Avaris and his remixing, I'm gonna punch them in the face. :lmassoff:

No. Seriously. I will.

:nicework:

[a_d]

This album was amazing. I suppose I shouldn't expect less when the source tunes are by Yasunori Mitsuda. But there are probably more tracks on this project that I think are really great than on almost any other OCR album yet. However, I expect Serious Monkey Business to beat it *crosses fingers*

[nugzta]

I almost finish playing Xenogears (started few weeks ago), thanks to this album :smile:

[Level 99]

I almost finish playing Xenogears (started few weeks ago), thanks to this album :smile:

That's honestly some of the best praise this album can receive. :)

[Flash Strife]

Shit CHIPP, what the hell did you do?

[Siamey]

Five minutes out of fourteen seconds.

Thank you sir, I'm glad someone realized how short my source was.
Remixes from ultra short sources are pretty fun though, they bend you in ways regular remixes don't.

[frubam]

I just stumbled upon some of the remixes on youtube, and the tracks sound AMAZING! I can really feel the emotion and care placed into them. I'll be downloading the whole thing, thank you very much =03.

[E-Bison]

It's pretty cool how much the youtube promotional stuff has drawn in listeners who wouldn't have encountered the project otherwise. The feedback on here has been very positive.

[Bahamut]

Here's a comment about a year and a half later, but here's some more current thoughts.

While the album certainly has some flaws here and there, I find myself going back to listening to the album from time to time, which speaks volumes about the music's quality in perhaps the more abstract department, even with newer albums. The album isn't how I probably would've imagined it, but that's why it's always nice to hear other people's works/attempts. I enjoy this album quite a lot, and probably is in the better half of released albums on OCR IMO.

[William]

The site ( http://xenogears.ocremix.org/ ) says RoeTaKa's track on Gears is "Devil Fire", but the tags on the file call it "Devil Flare". Which is correct?

[Melbu Frahma]

The site ( http://xenogears.ocremix.org/ ) says RoeTaKa's track on Gears is "Devil Fire", but the tags on the file call it "Devil Flare". Which is correct?

I'd noticed this a while back too, and had wondered the same thing. No idea, but I'd be interested to know too.

[electric concerto]

Also, in case any updating will ever be done to the website, "Kira of Trance" should redirect to electric concerto's (http://ocremix.org/forums/member.php?u=14517) profile here on the OCR forums. I noticed he was one of the artists that didn't have any sort of link attached to his name, but should have.Yeah... about that... I forgot to do that consent thing you're suppose to do for projects. I already did it for the Mario 64 one though.

Kira of Trance was a waste of time, money, everything. I shouldn't have ever used that... It's Electric Concerto, and I do genre fusions.

I will say, I love how the album came out. Awesome work!

[RoeTaKa]

I'd noticed this a while back too, and had wondered the same thing. No idea, but I'd be interested to know too.

It is actually Devil Flare, I never noticed!

[William]

It is actually Devil Flare, I never noticed!
Thanks for the follow-up, RoeTaKa! I manage the content over at http://ocr.rainwave.cc/ and I like to keep things correct.