OCR01990 - Final Fantasy VI 'Desertion'

[djpretzel]

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

[Joshua Morse]

That was an awfully short wait time...Great mix, though!

[Bahamut]

Heh, I already heard this one a few weeks back, but a more rough version.

I'm sort of mixed on this - love the shreddage, but not a fan of the synth as the lead early on. The song feels short to me too - otherwise, zircon is still a beast!

[Nekofrog]

Yeah, the synth in general is pretty bad. Dissonant and harsh, just not a good tone at all (nor is the note choice very easy to listen to).

Shreddage turned out better than I expected, but how about some lead playing to show it off?

[Liontamer]

Yeah, the synth in general is pretty bad. Dissonant and harsh, just not a good tone at all (nor is the note choice very easy to listen to).

Wha?

Nah.

[Nekofrog]

Wha?

Nah.

Yeah, bra.

[Cyril the Wolf]

Everyone else says the same thing.

Lead: not so hot

Shreddage: WOOAAAAHHH!!! Good work there with the shreddage. Too bad it doesn't actually... shred... becuase shredding implies leads.

Oh well, good work on shreddage!

[DragonAvenger]

Definitely some nice shreddage here. The mix is powerful throughout, which lends itself well to both themes. I'm not sure if the first lead synth is the best choice, but I still think it works as is. Nice work.

[Neblix]

Yeah, the synth in general is pretty bad. Dissonant and harsh, just not a good tone at all (nor is the note choice very easy to listen to).

Shreddage turned out better than I expected, but how about some lead playing to show it off?

I kinda agree to an extent; the lead synth seemed kinda alone and bland compared to the dominant power of Shreddage guitars.

But it's nothing ear piercing; the mix still rocks A LOT in general.

Nice decisive battle riff at the end. d-(^^)-b

[Kidd Cabbage]

It's funny that this thread (and the post information) is more focused on the product than the song. :P

But since that seems to be the purpose, I'll post my thoughts as someone who produces plenty of metal with a rhythmic focus.
-While this isn't the actual samples and more the amp sim, it sounds a lot like a direct-input guitar. Distorting guitars is one of the hardest things to do with software, since half of their sound on record is based on acoustics.
-I wouldn't have really given a second thought that the guitar was played in a lot of the chordy parts. They sound le nice. When it gets to the lower parts, it sounds a little off - I'm not sure if this can be fixed through altering the MIDI timings and articulations or not.

I'm not sure how a lot of the other articulations used in metal sound (palm mutes, half muted, harmonics, pinches), so I can't really give thoughts.



So now, if we can talk about the actual song... you totally listened to Snappleman the whole time you made this, I know it! :P

[Brandon Strader]

I'm listening with headphones and the guitar sounds fine on the right side, but on the left it seems less defined. I don't know if it's because of my headphones, or damage to my ear over years of abuse, but I think it sounds odd. It's almost like the right side is panned right 100% but the left side seems panned 50% left or something through these headphones.

Could be due to having the guitars play the same thing too. When I was starting out with heavy guitar in 2005, I tried to copy and paste my rhythm guitars to make it stereo. It doesn't work. I imagine that Shreddage probably doesn't use completely different performances for the same part, so that could definitely be the issue...

I really do enjoy the song though, and although there is some weirdness to the synth, I think it works well as a whole. I think the song could have been expanded on, perhaps even made more progressive, but it's great as it is.

[zircon]

Thanks for the comments so far, all! To respond to the left/right channel issue, those are separate recordings AND separate timings. So, if you're hearing something, it is probably your imagination (though the amp sims are indeed different.) As for the lead synth, dunno why so many of you dislike it. SnappleMan, norg, Sixto and danimal cannon all use very similar leads (and in fact I've designed a number of Sixto's leads, so I would know.) I was just emulating their style because I love 'em.

Especially SnappleMan.

[Nekofrog]

Thanks for the comments so far, all! To respond to the left/right channel issue, those are separate recordings AND separate timings. So, if you're hearing something, it is probably your imagination (though the amp sims are indeed different.) As for the lead synth, dunno why so many of you dislike it. SnappleMan, norg, Sixto and danimal cannon all use very similar leads (and in fact I've designed a number of Sixto's leads, so I would know.) I was just emulating their style because I love 'em.

Especially SnappleMan.

Can't all be winners? Iono, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one that wasn't feeling the synth.

But I take back a lot of what I said months ago about Shreddage. While not entirely realistic, it is probably the best option out there for someone who doesn't play guitar but wants some in their tunes.

Not sure how someone who doesn't understand the intricacies of actually recording a heavy guitar would get by with it because I don't have it, or its lead sound (because there wasn't any in this song), but kudos for what I have heard.

[Meteo Xavier]

Sometimes a white hot, hi-saw sounds great over top a prog-metal kinda track like this, and sometimes a screaming, blue lead sounds better. I think a blue lead or even a distorted square probably would've sounded better, but I don't it detracts from the mix at all.

Is the opening there the Japanese thing you were waiting to get recorded for so long? You told me about that a while back and I'm wondering if thats it.

[Arcana]

How would this library sound in the hands of someone who knows virtually nothing about guitar? Like, can you just drag and drop MIDI notes and it's fine?

[LuigiFan]

I don't have a clue about working with sample libraries or whatnot, but I must say this emulates electric rhythm quite well. The mix is great too - well arranged and makes a great use of the library.

Nothing to me will ever replace an authentic Sixto mix though. ;)

(Oh, and I totally laughed at "Duduk, Where's My Car")

[WillRock]

Pretty solid remix, Props to zircon and sixto for shreddage, if I didn't know that guitar wasn't real, I wouldn't have guessed.

As for the crit about the lead, personally, I don't see what the big issue is, i've heard leads just like it used in all sorts of rock ocr tracks like has been said by zircon. Personally, 80-90% of the time, I haven't been completely comfortable with the leads used in ocr rock mixes for the blandness issue thats been pointed out here, but this is no different to other leads i've heard in them and it does the job well enough.

[Sixto]

Yeah, I use that kind of synth lead most of the time and people usually don't like it.

[Flare4War]

It does come off a bit Rammstein but it is what it is. I really like it.

Great job and congratulations on Shreddage, it looks awesome.

[Hollidayrain]

Sample library sounds phenomenal. I can understand where the criticism of the lead synth comes from; there are times when it's a bit chipp-ish, but it's DEFINITELY not as bad as some of these people are saying. At all. Awesome stuff Zirc

[LuIzA]

I must say I'm really impressed with Shreddage. I can see some minor "imperfections" when it comes to realism, but if I didn't play guitar, I'd totally get it! guitar tone is really good and chuggy. but the stereo image seems a bit funny.... Like Brandon said, more defined on the right side. still, great job on Shreddage, guys!

As for the synth lead... I also don't dig it, not in this song, and not anywhere else. to be very honest, I find this sort of synth lead, not bad at all, but boring. but that's a matter of individual taste, some of us will like it, some of us won't.

[zircon]

Yeah, I use that kind of synth lead most of the time and people usually don't like it.

http://img5.imageshack.us/img5/1662/fffffffuuuu.jpg

Well anyway, thanks for the comments nonetheless.

[astrovanman]

Nice track! Before the shredding comes in, does the intro to this sound like something out of Bear McCreary's Battlestar Galactica themes to anyone else?

[OA]

shreddage sounds awesome, and I agree about the synth. Great arrangement though! :D

[Martin Penwald]

Nice intro.

Unlike many of the people who posted before me, I really enjoy the synth, to the point where it steals the spotlight from shreddage.