[djpretzel]

Real Name: Bryan Henderson
ReMixer Name: Sefiros
e-mail: bumflekitten@hotmail.com
forum id: 9598

Game remixed: Final Fantasy VIII
Songs remixed: Compression Of Time

lycos is funny with linking to files so you may have to wait until it redirects you then save the file from there.

Name of the remix is Everything = Nothing

[Liontamer]

http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 405 "Compression of Time"

This has been a favorite original game track of mine not because of the actual track, but because of Stephen Kennedy's remix of it from Project Majestic Mix (Gold).

Played this one back on VGF47, and it was pretty solid, in my opinion Bryan's best work yet. I thought more attention to the mixing could made the track sound a bit clearer, with more distinct-sounding instrumentation, but on the whole, that's just a personal preference and I liked the presentation as is. Carried an almost ambient feel to it with how echo-y & dense the string work was, and that wasn't bad at all.

This could get shat on for not having much dynamic range as the track really got underway. While there was subtle variation going on in terms of the composition, the piece felt like it was on cruise control; pretty samey from 1:18-4:31 on first listen. Note that I said the first listen.

Subtle changes and additions in the instrumentation were in several places: 1:36 (low strings), 2:09 (drums), 2:24 (more percussion panned left), 2:41 (brass additions I believe), 2:55 (melody with harp plucks in the back), 3:12 (added more stuff), 3:29 (moves to another section of the source tune keeping the same low string backing), 4:16 went a bit lower in sound...

3:32-4:17 definitely had the string work and vox getting too loud and piercing in my headphones; looked like you were topping out the low mid-range most of the way through.

Sef had some nice dropping out of instruments to focus on strings and brass at 4:31. Nice work gradually fading in some additional string work around 4:41 that kept building up all the way until it stopped getting louder around 5:50 I believe. Very creative idea I hadn't heard used before in any other mix.

Stylish ending section at 6:07. Still sounded pretty samey relative to the earlier material, but I liked the tone of your string samples going solo. Very nice way to tie things up. Sounded too fake going for the extremely long hanging note during the fade from 6:36-6:48, especially since you had one string with no additional layering, but it didn't negatively impact me too much.

When one listens to the piece the first time, he may go "boring" or "does this ever change?" It certainly sounds very similar throughout most of the way, and I'm sure some people will dismiss it as monotonous. But the context lies in the details, which you ought to be paying attention to. Solid arrangement, and good use of very purposeful additive and subtractive instrumentation ideas to create understated yet ever-present change within the composition.

Sounds solid to me, but you NEVER know with the panel. Very cool work Bryan. Not something I initially enjoyed vis-a-vis my role as a judge, as I definitely had the (wrong) first impression of "repetitive". I can see how someone can say that about the overall tone of the piece, but the changes in the composition are what counted with me. Certainly interested to see what Gray and Dan in particular have to say on this one.

YES

[Vig]

This remix is truly beautiful, and it has some of the best dynamic work of any remix on OCR. I can only imagine how much work went into such an intricate arrangement.

YES

[DarkeSword]

The opening reminds me of one of those chinese martial arts movies where they make the pretense of having a really deep love story when it's all just an excuse to do kung fu. Go figure.

Yeah this is really pretty stuff. I'm enjoying the slowly moving lines buried within the sustained chords; nice stuff. Dynamics are excellent; lots of highs and lows; those detache strings are wonderfully executed too.

Needs more Yo-Yo Ma.

YES

[GrayLightning]

The dynamics are indeed nice. The orchestration as a whole is solid, but the sequencing on those solo strings are pretty bad in my opinion. It sounds very mechanical and jerky.

Still, it's a good arrangement, with good execution too. Complex and well done overall. YES

[danny B]

I would like to add an emphatic GJ

-D