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Co-signing on what the guys said above.  Great sounding guitar work here!  Panning is way too wide for my taste.  Drums are too quiet in the mix, as is the bass.  The arrangement is too simple, too straightforward and way too short.  Ending is a cold, unnatural cutoff.   This seems more like a concept wip than a finished product.  I agree with Larry and Brad that DoD would be a great place to refine your arrangement and production skills.  I'd love to hear more from you in the future, in terms of a fully-fleshed out arrangement, because as Larry said the musicianship is most definitely there! NO

Those first 30 seconds are nothing short of amazing.  What an excellent way to start a remix.  Cool wubs and even cooler arrangement! 😎

I have been summoned!  Honestly, I'm glad I was because my original review was weak sauce.  I couldn't really tell you the differences between this version and the one I heard originally, so this is basically a fresh review. In my quest to review as many OCremixes as I can, I found myself defaulting to giving a positive review to each and every review.  I know how much of a difference even a small review or comment can make, and I wanted to be that positive force that encouraged others to make music!  However, I have a very long and personal relationship with the FF8 soundtrack.  And the Extreme is one of my favorite boss themes of all time.  It is a soundtrack I am deeply familiar with and I'll be completely honest, I am not a fan of this remix.  My original review was glib because I didn't say what I wanted to say.  So my apologies to you for not leaving a genuine review.  You are going to get one now though, definitely the longest review I've ever done on this site! (So far).  I will try to be as constructive as I can with this review, and keep in mind this is all subjective opinion.  I very much applaud and appreciate what you've done here and the clear care and passion you put into this. I'll start with what I enjoy.  The transition to the spoken work/rap section from 6:00 to 6:24 was my favorite part of the track, those wood blocks were FIRE.  The rap section and the spoken word bits in general were very cool.  The intro soundscape was very enjoyable, specifically the first 30 seconds. and the usage of the FITHOS LUSEC WECOS VINOSEC source was very well done. On to my criticisms.  My first one is the pacing of the remix.  In my original review I mentioned that it uses the time well.  Upon further review, I do not think that is not the case.  Even though I think the intro is very cool, 3 minutes to ramp up into the energetic portion of the song is way too long, it could have been it's own remix and would have been great but in the context of a single remix it overstays its' welcome.  I think a good minute could have been cut from the intro.  Even though I enjoyed the rap section, it was way too short and felt very out of place, it really felt like it should be its' own remix as well.  The long length of this remix doesn't really give me a good chance to latch onto anything in particular and kind of causes the whole remix to wash over you like a fog. My second criticism from a musical standpoint is that in the "Tension and Release" aspect of music, there was too much tension and not enough release.  To start, after the song-length intro. We get to some energetic stuff starting at 2:52.  That part was very cool, like many of the transitions in this remix.  The rhythmic chanting voices, that super cool Buzzy bass.... the strings that come in at 2:58 were weak, but not a deal-breaker... but then it just kind of... shifts to 3:04 - 3:15.  After all that build up and a cool transition it just kind of flops.  I felt musically blue-balled, and it wouldn't be the last time. My favorite part of the original source is that epic climatic section that dives right into the somber piano/harp.  It kind of encapsulates everything that makes the Extreme such a good boss music and a great representative of Ultimicia.  However in this remix, I didn't get any of that.  I felt like I got played at 5:04 and 5:26 and once again at 8:34.  From a creative standpoint, I appreciate the subversion of the expectation, but as an enjoyer of the source, it felt incredibly unsatisfying.   Production is a bit off as well.  Everything felt kind of flimsy.  Some of the lead synth instruments really needed some protein.  (Especially that lead that comes in at 3:58.)  The drums barely had any presence (Especially the snares) and tended to be very repetitive.  The end result is that a lot of this remix doesn't really pack any sort of punch. Again, I hope this review doesn't discourage you.  There are things I liked about this remix and would probably like more if this remix was chopped up into more cohesive regular sized remixes.  Keep making cool music! 😄

That 4 note repeating pattern is very ear-wormy.  The effects of the ear-worm are amplified by the excellent production of this remix.  The intro and ending for this remix are incredibly strong.  Excellent job with this remix!

https://discord.gg/ocremix - I'm @Xaleph