[Liontamer]

Xenogears - Torn Apart (from the song "The One Who Is Torn Apart"... yeah it's not very original, so shoot me - the original name definitely fits the remix's sound/feel).

Firstly, it's been a long time since I've posted on ocremix, I have a lot of songs I've recently gone back and started trying to finish. This piece I worked on for quite some time - initially decided to do something like Astral Projection or Infected Mushroom would do, but resorted to more of an industrial techno mix. After composing "Revenge" (which I'm still re-working before I submit that as well to ocr) and the success we got from the competition - people started bombarding ryan and I for our next work together. This was the first song after "Revenge" - I'm unsure if you guys have heard it (IMC 14 I believe, yeah it was a while ago), but there are quite a few similarities.

Secondly, I am no longer "dj carbunk1e", I got rid of this name a while ago. My original artist name was Xaleph. It was what I was called in the several industrial and rock bands I played in which toured in various places on the east coast. DJ Carbunk1e initially was a joke, and I'd prefer if you guys change my artist name to Xaleph (I know it's confusing, but the change is long overdue).

As far as this piece, I don't think this is probably my 'best' work, but it is certainly one of those songs that I keep going back to just to listen - it just starts getting catchy and it's much different than the original piece. I had to go back and do a decent amount of sound engineering and replacing some percussion components because well... it sounded ridiculously cheezy initially. The kick was replaced by some of my new kicks, the clap was actually recently added (yeah it adds a lot, I'm pretty content with the addition), and I replaced one of the synth guitars as the previous one was... very obviously fake (yeah the new one that is also obviously fake isn't quite as obviously fake >.<). You'll also notice that I used a fadeout - I generally hate any kind of fadeout and feel that it's just a crappy tool for any ending. The reason I used it here, is that I'm putting together a super mix, and it actually ties into some other songs. I doubt ocr would allow a 60 minute techno mix of various songs as a single submission, so I'm doing my best to keep the integrity of the song, while still submitting it to the site.

Also, I don't think Ryan8bit even knows I am now submitting the song. I was supposed to submit this a little over 2 years ago - but well... I was busy getting married, having babies, buying houses, and being successful as a developer at my job.

So anyways, here you have it, the first of 5-8 songs that will be back to back submitted (within the allowed timeframe... I think it used to be 3 months, but I'll have to check).

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http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/Xenogears_psf.rar - 213 "The One Who is Torn Apart"

Opening's a little cheesy, but whatchugonnado brother? Ryan's guitar work meshed very nicely with the electronic stuff, quickly getting rid of any fears of a lack of synergy. Not that I was truly worried. I do indeed remember Tales of Phantasia "Revenge" from IMC14 and always wondered why that never got sent this way.

The production was a bit on the crowded side (e.g. :54's chorus), but the seperation was good enough where clutter wasn't a serious issue in the big picture. The volume was a bit on the loud side for me, but Matt clearly went for as loud and phat of a sound as he could reach without clipping and realized those goals. Piano at 2:46 was a little thin, but was couched well enough in the soundfield that it wasn't an issue.

That's a pretty sweet trance adaptation. Retains the structure of the original, but drives the bitch home with power and some great expansive writing ideas that build off of the source. Right from :26, you're getting some excellent power. Nice groove, but the arrangement substance and overall development was there, so you don't feel guilty for the groove bias. The volume fade at 5:36 felt a little too fast; I would have doubled the ending's length to end it more gradually. Not a huge deal, but some peeps will wish it wasn't as sudden.

Score one for trance. While not specifically a fan of trance music, I love good "anything". You don't hear much solid trance on the panel, let alone half-decent attempts at trance. If you only knew, the inbox is frightening. This was a very welcome exception. Really nice to see you back after such a long hiatus, Matt.

YES

R.I.P. Crunk1e

[Vig]

Very solid. Lets see what I can rip on:

There could be a bit more stereo separation, especially of the leads; they tend to all sort of sit back in the middle. I think that's all I've got. This is very good stuff. Tons of sweet ideas and textures introduced over a fairly consistent trancy groove. Meh. Why say anything else? I've got my mouth to feed.


YES

[zircon]

Props to Matt for hooking up OCR with the under-represented psytrance genre. We hardly get any subs in this style, much less actual posted remixes.

Anyway, the volume levels here are pretty hot.. in particular the intro, with the intercom-style voice clips. However, it's not a problem once more elements are added and the compressor has more material to work with. I can understand criticism of the mono leads and the slightly cluttered texture, but overall I'd say this is relatively minor. I'm glad the mixer didn't use the same kind of detuned/distorted lead throughout and varied it up instead. Guitars are used tastefully though they're a little quiet.

Really cool track overall. Reminds me of the group "Infected Mushroom" - particularly when all the sound effects are used to thicken things up. The arrangement is rock solid and the production, while perhaps a little rough around the edges, easily gets the job done. Good to hear "DJ Carbunk1e" back in action. :)

YES

[DarkeSword]

Fantastic texture and evolution throughout; there's not much to the source, but you guys managed to take what was there and bring something solid to the table. I'm not so crazy about the reverb on the percussion, but perhaps that's just a characteristic of the genre that I'm not familiar with. That guitar rocks out.

YES