OCR01341 - Secret of Mana 'On the Day the World Changed...'

[djpretzel]

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

[Navi]

Powerhouse combination of artists here. This is more a series of remixes than it is one remix (but I ain't complaining) and each section is drastically different from the previous. Hot stuff all the way through. Great work, guys.

[Nigel Simmons]

I heard this on VGMix a while ago and I really, really liked it. AWESOME guitar work at 4:40.

[Wanderer]

This is one hot track here. If you're going to collaborate, you might as well raise your ambitions and this is what I see with this song. Exceptional job, guys.

[BlueEnvy]

This is quite the mix. It's great how many different elements are thrown together. The main problem with having so many different sections featuring different musicians is that there are little/no real transitions into each section. More developed/smooth and longer transitioning would make this better. There are some ok switches, and I do recognize that there is the limit of 6 mb...so under that constraint I would say this was still pulled off fairly well. Fun arranging, there are lots of interesting ideas. I only wish more sense could be made of the song as a whole.

blue

[YoshMaster]

....woa....

ok ca c'est carrement debile!!!!:P

bravo les gars!!!! jsavais pas que quebec renfermait autant de talents haha!:)

jsuis vraiment heureux de voir un nouveaux mix de poster ici! vous etes vraiment genial!!!!

oh et bonne fete en passant!!!!:) si tu te souviens, quand on avait jase par email on avait realise que nos fete etait tres proche (moi c le 18) et qu'on avait le meme age en plus:P

j'attend deja votre prochaine toune avec impatience haha!:)

******translation******

hummm welll... i said:

concratulation guys!!! i didnt knew quebec city had that much talent:P
i'm very happy to see a new mix of yours finally being post here! you're really great!

oh and by the way, happy birthday!!! then I go on saying that my birthday is really soon too (18th) and that I'm also going to turn 21, and that you know it's crazy to think someone my age can be that good musicaly (kinda makes me feel bad when I compare:P)

[Red120%]

wow... very nice!!~~.. the selection is very excellent

is there any chance to get a higher bitrate version online some place?

[CPacaud]

Wow guys, thanks for the love and the nice birthday present :P !

Yep, there's a 160kbps version at http://www.vgmix.com/song_view.php?song_id=3495 .

[Harmony]

Wow. That really rocked. So many different vibes from this song that would each be amazing on their own. That intro is really something to get excited about. I've been waiting for this to get posted for a while and I tried to guess what song it was a remix of. 'On The Day The World Changed', hmm. I thought of the Prophesy flight theme, or the Mana Beast fight theme but when 'I heard Into the Thick of It' as the intro (one of my favorite tunes from the game) I just had to smile. And it just kept rolling! That bass rocks!

I absolutely loved the third section; the remix of 'Mystic Invasion'. A jazz power-ballad to be proud of for sure. Beautiful piano, beautiful guitar. Someone should make an entire mix out of that section. But each section seriously jammed and multitudes of props to Marc-André Gingras for that jaw dropping guitar solo. In fact, props all around!

Thanks for putting yet another Seiken Densetsu title on the front page you all. Three at the same time! Someone needs to get a Secret of Mana project going :D

[baterista]

This song is incredible. I've been a fan of Dream Theater, Rush, and many other progressive rock bands since i can remember. This song is up there! Great mix, wonderful use of the melodic progressions the game has to offer. 114kb/s is a bit too low encoding for my taste. Personally, for a mix of this quality, i'd ask for lossless! But, alas, that may be asking too much. Anyways, congrats on the fantastic work guys!

[Red Light District]

very diverse. I like the begining...

[Less Ashamed Of Self]

Wow... quality level is very high. A tasty little piece. Hard genre to pin, I'd like to call it Progressive Rock.
Outstanding work... an excellent tribute song... a lot of major songs covered here.

[Txai]

Definitively, another great ReMix on my book. Remembers me of Protricity.

[red40lake]

Boy, wow, where to start...

you know how some music you listen to just seems to have texture, like you can almost run your hands across it and feel the various bumps, dips, turns and intricacies? That's what this is like. I just finished listening to this song for about the 6th time, and each time I can follow a different line throughout the song, pick up a different piece of music worked into it. It's liek a new song all over again. Great work, I'm sure this was quite an effort. :wink:

[ktriton]

Hey guys, thanks for the kind words :)

Wow...OCR has really changed a lot since the last time I logged in (over a year ago I think)!

[Fieari]

Totally sweet. I'm really digging this. The abrupt jarring transitions really work well. This is a song that has some real POWER behind those chords. Too many guitar mixes that try to rock just don't rock hard enough. This rocks hard. Parts of it are definitely Air Guitar worthy. Woo!

The softer piano section was cool, and the perfect break in the middle of all that rocking hard. I too would love a mix just of that, but whatver. It works here.

I must say that you've given me the most frightening rendition of "Where Angels Fear to Tread" I've ever heard. And I mean that in a good way! It's simultaneously soft, gentle, and REALLY CREEPY! Good work there, kudos.

I'm not sure it was the best place to end the mix though. I always like music that comes full circle, starting and ending on the same note or theme or key or whatever. To do otherwise makes it hang there in the air, uncomfortably. But then, that too is a mood to convey, a feeling that is worthwhile to put into music, and I think that here it was deliberate. Ballsy of you, but it was pulled off. That last note is definitely going to echo in my ears for a while...

Neat mix. Very neat. I like.

[Nintendo-GuRu]

Would you be scared if I told you I love you? lol, man this was a great remix. I enjoyed it a bunch. Its goin on my playlist ;). 9/10

[Dj Orange]

My opinion of this mix is that it is awesome in terms of production quality and arrangement ideas. Prog-metal is not something OCR usually gets a taste of; savour it! But unlike djp, I get the impression of medley-itis; it sounds like I'm listening to multiple covers strung together. Each of those covers is superb though!

The comparison to Dream Theatre is definitely warranted.

[CPacaud]

Thanks alot guys !

It's certainly not perfect. You're probably right that most of the transitions could've been better. The truth is, as bland as it may sound, that the song was getting very hard to manage. My PC was on the verge of exploding under the weight of all the plugins and amp sims (I don't mic amps or anything, all software) and the song was separated in four different files (which might've be one of the causes of the medley-itis problem !). Anyway, just thought I'd clarify this. It's always a pleasure to read the criticisms of the OCR judges and the people here. Not always easy to take in some cases (and I do get defensive sometimes), but the only important thing is that you seem to appreciate it, and you guys are making my day :P

Also, for those who like the jazzy ballad breakdown taken from Holy Intruder, that's mostly the work of ktriton ! Bow to him :P

Oh, and it's Dream TheatER guys, not Theatre :P

[artemisjaeger]

Well, I love it, myself. Anything that could be better is just fine, though. Because honestly, anything can be better, so if it's good the way it is, it's just how it should be.

Freakin' awesome job.

[SuperNomad]

Great remix, really good range of instruments and it has all the best songs from Secret of Mana. Simply excellent.

[Demorican]

Listening to this really makes me wonder what it'd sound lie if you had your way with the boss battle music whose name has TOTALLY escaped me but I've always wanted to hear a remix of.

Umm... keep on... uhhh... bamdazzlin'..? Yeah.. <.<

[kaip]

Such an interesting and varied mix! I'm not really sure how to approach describing this! I wouldn't be able to play this back to myself in my head or anything. So complex... I guess.. what I think: everything about just screams Secret of Mana (if that makes any sense at all). The atmosphere, the vibe, the sounds that echo through it... I dunno, it just feels that way! Like the game, this mix is an epic voyage across exotic lands to the edges of the world! uh, yeah.

[Amayirot Akago]

The whole mix has a Dream Theater-ish feel to it, IMO. Thumbs up!

[CPacaud]

Thanks alot guys ! I appreciate all the love :P

[Ventrex]

First of all, I dig this mix a lot. It's a beautiful piece of work that, on a whole, really works (rocks). My only criticism is that the segments could have flowed into each other better; but the thing is, I'm not sure if I would have enjoyed that more or not. As it stands, the slightly uneven flowing makes it feel more like a personal jam session in the garage, and less like an overpolished, overproduced studio work, you know? It gives it this nice, homely feeling, like you're listening in on your friends' band practicing and just having a balls out blast.

But the segment begining around 5'30 just absolutely rocks my face. While I do have a minor quibble about this piece, I really look forward to seeing new stuff from you guys. This piece is fresh, and unique, and I want to see more of this prog-rock jam session type mixing on OCR. Good job, the lot of you, and good luck on future projects.

[Weirdboyscott]

Mm, this starts off with one of my most favorite songs in Video Gaming industry, with my favorite rendition of it so far... everything else from there just kept evolving and evolving into something greater.

Fantastic.

[ktriton]

:)

Thanks for all the great comments, guys! This was one of the most fun collaborations I've worked on. Glad to see that you all took to it.

[Dahlia]

Great work! Can't stop listening.

If you can get me to write in the comments topic, you can rest assured knowing that you've rocked thoroughly. XD

[Vyse_The_Legend]

I really liked the origional soundtrack to this game and Christian, ktriton, and MAG do a nice job of recreating it without butchering the feeling of the origional sound. I especially liked the beginning with the guitar as well as the segment with the piano in it. Top notch job!

[heavybolter]

I just have to say that Christian Picaud's work is easily my favorite out of all of the mixers on this site. His Final Fantasy 6 Battle on a New Continent, and now his Secret of Mana song are some of my most listened-to music. Download these and enjoy them! It's not often that you get music of this quality for free (legally).

[CPacaud]

Woah, thanks man :P

[KyleJCrb]

Heard this one on VGMix awhile back, and it was quite impressive. I'm not familiar with the music from Secret of Mana, but it must be good if something like this comes out of a prog rock cover of it. :P I really like the build-up at about 1:10, the piano breakdown at about 2:24, and the way the rhythm guitar drops back into the song at 3:51. Definitely epic stuff here. :)

[Rexy]

Yeah, I think most of the people have covered this one ^_^ When I first saw it around VGMix I literally had my jaw dropped in awe over how the medley came together. Even here it's one of those rarities - a good range of tracks following on from one another, but have all been expanded enough in concept and involvement as well as showing enough roots to the source material to make it accessible for the site. I had a few light thoughts towards how the track would be compressed for the site, but for something like this it shouldn't really be taken in too much of a factor.

Nonetheless, i'll copy my VGMix review and showcase my thoughts back into here.

Production Techniques
The three of them together have managed to put down a progressive rock progression all the way through, which has managed to emphasize well upon the general "journey" which has been portrayed in the original title. Panning has been shown well with some of the guitar textures, and although I was hoping for just as much space emphasis on the other sounds too it has still worked well to show an involving general setup for the listener. The recording quality behind the guitars is at a strong strength; while the sounds themselves aren't necessarily clear they have still been established at a very good quality to further emphasize around the moods of the song itself; the choice of synths are shown to be very strong and unusual too, mind although some of which could break the general mood of the piece (like what was used at 2:02 for example), they have still worked well to emphasize on a strong set of twisted moods throughout. The sound levels are also very clear and precise to match and the EQs chosen - although a bit bass-and-mid-range dependant - have still worked in providing a very strong thought to the general balance all the way through it. So what we have in general is a setup that surpasses various elements from Battle on a New Continent, but ended up falling behind on very few of which. Either way, this is very great stuff from the three of them.

Compositional structure
The track started off with a soothing acoustic guitar intro which in turn showed a rendition of "Into the Thick of It". The truth to the original was there to begin with, and the light forms of ambience have worked well to provide a good thought of detail towards the general progressive start. This in turn was lead into a more twisted bass-dependant part to help emphasize on the incoming theme of the other portions of this area of the melody. While I feel the bass could have been played with just as much expression as the lead guitar, it has still worked well enough to be able to maintain the listener's interest to begin with.

The pace was then kicked up at 1:05 via a rendition of "Meridian Dance". Here, the music has provided a more progressive form throughout, in order to be able to maintain the general thrill of the game's final battle. Even here, the source has been twisted around a lot to show a fair amount of performance technique to be able to match from the general emphasis of the source itself. While the general textures of the piece were felt to be a little bit empty in comparison to some of the other portions of the song, the overall concept is shown to be well done by all means.

2:23 then showed the piano elements coming in for the next part of the track, which shows a rendition of "Mystic Invasion". Here, the moods in comparison to the past area are shown to be a strong drop in comparison to what they were before, and the piano performance skills have worked well to provide a steady chilled background to show as a dynamic contrast all around the mix. The incoming lead guitar later on in the section has also worked to gradually build the moods up in time for the next segment of the piece, and the piano solo has also aided in providing just as much form of grace when shown. If there's something I need to gesture at here I would have asked for some general feel towards the drum portions, but otherwise this is still pretty strong stuff.

And then there came another energetic battle-type progression at 3:50; however I have absolutely no idea what source is covered here. But those thoughts are soon pushed aside through the energetic climax that soon managed to lead its way all the way up towards MAG's solo performance at 4:34. The strengths behind the fast-paced nature of the progression have worked well in providing a more thoughtful and energetic set all around it, and has further emphasized upon the general pace granted behind that part of the piece. While I feel the textures could have been just as broad as the general skill behind the performance and the climax that lead on after it, I still felt that this is a working section that has provided just as much thrills for the listener as some of the previous portions.

Finally there came a sinister sounding portion to round off the piece at 5:09, and the choice of chord progressions have worked well to provide a more haunting gesture to begin with. And just to familiarize the listener that they are indeed listening to a Secret of Mana mix, the melody for "Angels' Fear" made its way through at 5:34, although in a very thoughtful and nostalgic fashion given the amount of performance granted all the way around it. The general emphasis of the opening notes have been used as the foundations for the final closing statuses of the track, which have worked well to grant what I personally thought was a blood curdling experience given the piano emphasis leading all the way through to the end. While some of the audience might have problems with the general menacing statuses of the ending, I see that to be a working trait within Christian's works and for that it has showed a very strong finale as a whole. Excellent.

So yeah, it's fair to say that I flat out enjoyed this. ^^ It took a while to associate with some of the themes (given that I never played the Mana games when I was younger but was able to get really involved with the score as of late), but with the amount of credibility taken towards the piecing together of the individual tracks the audience is sure to be in for a very exciting piece of work from start to finish.

For that, it's shown to be another job well done for both Christian Pacaud and Marc-Andre Gingras, and a wel deserved entrance to the site for ktriton too. I want to see some more work from either of the three artists in the future, or better still, any possible collaborative efforts again :)

[CPacaud]

Hey Rexy, you know you can expect more stuff from us :P

[CPacaud]

Uhhh... Thanks ?

[Doomed Seraph]

You've done justice to the best RPG ever made. Good work all round.

[ktriton]

Yeah...thanks, Mini.

...I think...?

Rexy: Seeing as Cpac somehow manages to put up with me, I think you can expect more from us in the near future ;)

[Shwenky]

I am a HUGE fan of progressive rock, and this is the only remix of its type I've seen so far. Great work guys!

[Stalwart Jester]

Uhm. Wow.

I love this. This is easily one of my favorite mixes on OCR, seriously. It might be partially because I'm a Secret of Mana whore, :roll: but let's ignore that fact.

This song puts together every song I grew to love in that game, and in a perfect, like, progressive rock theme.

The only mix I like better'n this, in the SoM catagory, is probably Dragon Song.

That's it. Congrats on making a very interesting compiliation of some of the game's best songs... (though they were all awesomely stunning to begin with, weren't they? :wink: )

[CPacaud]

Thanks guys.

And yeah, the soundtrack is awesome, so it's not like we should get too much credit or anything :P

Marc-André has created a MySpace webpage with three complete songs from his album available to be streamed, so for those who liked his guitar playing, check it out!

http://www.myspace.com/magproject

[Bummerdude]

I think I have listened to this before, but.......it doesn't make sense. Why didn't I download it? I am not worthy listening to this, I'm gonna sit in my dark and cold corner now.

*1 hour later*

Ok, I'm back. The remix, or more correctly medley, began very smooth with the bass and the electric guitar, it was a nice intro for the real deal. The real deal, was powerful..no...dynamic..no..kickass...there we go. The drumrolls flew across the air everywhere and the guitars just kept on rocking. When the piano showed up the adrenaline level went down a bit, it was relaxing but also jamming, since the prescense of an electric guitar came a little later. Then....MORE AWESOME GUITARPLAY. It was however a little more chaotic this time, but the energy, ohohohohoh, it had energy. Theeeen it went down a little (again), and the piano finished off with a rough guitar in the back. And then fade out.

My head got jiggy with it all the way, you can't sit still when listening to this one. Tremendous collab guys. Now I have downloaded it, but i won't feel safe until it's inside my mp3.

[ktriton]

Just a heads up, folks: This piece will be played live by Christian, Anthony "Miller" Lofton, Tim "TYarbreaux" Yarbrough, and I at the OneUps Live event in May. This'll probably be the only time to hear it played live and the concert will feature hits from plenty of other arrangers.

With ticket prices now at $20, this should be an easier sell than the $30 tickets were.

http://www.theoneupslive.com/

Hope to see you all there!

[Audity]

Some musical choices just seemed annoying, like near the end. But overall nice work. Secret of Mana++!! Some of the overall feeling reminded me of

Bangkok & Fire Garden Suite - Bull Whip, Pusa RD., Angel Food, Taurus Bulba -- by Steve Vai (more prog rock stuff)

[evktalo]

Very, very, very good. Very good. Very, very, very, very, very good.

To my ears the guitarist goes a bit over the edge with guitar bends a couple of times, case in point: 00:15, and then again at the beginning. These seriously jump out from such a streamlined, excellent and well-produced effort.. although no-one else has mentioned them, so it might just be me.

I think the transitions are ok. "Sudden" works sometimes, maybe they could have been done better but it's fine as it is.

--Eino

[42]

Meh...
I don't really care for the guitars hear, especially in the intro; they just seem off.

This mix also changes A LOT, which normally I encourage to make a track interesting to listen to, but its switches feel too random and make it seem schizophrenic. At any given time it could be a mellowed jazzy stretch before hitting a wildly energetic rock stretch, which throws off the mood. It's not bad, but it just never seems to make up its mind, never reaches any closure. On the flip side, with a title like "On the Day the World Changed..." I can understand the confused turbulence throughout the mix representing catastrophic world changing emotions too.

In the end, I don't particularly care for it though.

[OA]

Though the transitions aren't seamless, there is a ton of great things in this mix, and some very high caliber musicianship. If any song would be better served with a higher quality encoding, it'd be this one.

Excellent work guys, this one deserves some more attention. :-)

[Mockingbird]

I do really like this, despite not being at all familiar with the source material. It goes with a scene in an original fic I'm working on, so it holds a special place in my head. :-)

[flext]

I have been listening to this for quite some time and I still stop and wonder what Rush song this is before realizing it is a remix. Epic prog!

[Marmiduke]

I'm going to repeat what most other people have said; it really could have used a conceptual backbone bringing this out of "best-of medley" territory. It does sound like a sampler of sorts, which is distracting and doesn't really serve the music at all.
But since the music is what really counts, it's pretty easy to ignore the segmentation of the mix. Each segment is a knock out and represents an authentic appreciation for a wide range of prog rock. Lots of complex guitar work and infused jazz. That's kinda my thing, and I got a real kick out of the extensive showcase of both homage and freshness that was put into each individual track.
As a collective, I have issues with the presentation. It's not where it needs to be as a fully realised medley. Instead its a sequence of ridiculously good, well-produced, well-performed rock tracks. And that's more than enough to satisfy me. Well done.