[djpretzel]

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

[Arcana]

I'm really enjoying this. I'm not a huge listener of rock music, so I'm probably not the most qualified to be giving good comments, but there's a nice ballad-like feel to this song. It has a good rhythm and excellent guitar. It has a laid-back, mellow feel to it, but yet retains emotion and passion in the performance.

The bad notes that everyone's talked about are noticeable... but as mentioned, it's only five seconds and is easily ignorable. There's a lot of other great stuff here, just bask in the good feelings of that instead!

Great stuff from Darangen... I'll be looking for more music from this remixer!

[Rexy]

I remember this from the Sonic Revolution contest. Without a doubt this was the best technical performance I witnessed there, as well as enough interest within the composition to easily live up to the Darangen name. In my opinion he had a rough contest with zircon, which I feel has left me somewhat struggling on the overall marking scheme between the pair of them.

Anyhow, it's about bloody time he got more stuff up onto the site. :P As a judge within the competition I'll reflect back to my track commentary, which can also be seen via the Judges' Comments page and my VGMix review.

Remix

The mix is highly recognizable towards the source, which has shown aspects of the accompaniment providing the entire drive towards the listener within its duration. The execution is shown to be very smooth and well thoughtful all the way through; while this was shown to be a good element to begin with, there did seem to be a light off-key segment at 1:52 and a stuttered note at 2:50. From what I've seen this is one of the more creative variations on the theme I must have heard within my time, which has managed to provide a good amount of energetic flow throughout; although while the intended moods appear to be different from the original this has managed to stand strong as a thoughtful variation on the theme. The theme itself has managed to be granted a lot of variance - a different key from the original, some light alterations on the melody rhythms among the line and some tempo shifting on a few of the progressions are three of the key highlights that have managed to make this portion shine. Often the sections have provided a very good structure around them, even though the middle area dedicated to the second phase of the original theme seemed to be given a slight amount of over emphasis on the line. I also feel the fadeout could have been a bit gentler considering the original portions also running through that phase, but otherwise this has been well thought out.

Creativity

The whole piece is covered with creativity outside the source, not only through the variance on the themes but also some freestyle progressions at 1:32 and 3:12. The linking of the sections shows that the song doesn't really seem to stand still for a moment, thus everything has been provided at a strong enough link to satisfy a lot of listeners. Given the scope of the mix I would have asked for more going on but it shouldn't be bothered too much. The general adult contemporary rock status isn't necessarily a genre to call exciting, but the progressions have managed to provide a very good set of fresh pacing all around it. Mind, it did have a light hiccup when it came to repetition, most notably with the accompaniment in the middle proportion, as well as some minor elements in the ending (although that's pretty much saved by some creative guitar work alongside it). I can say that you will really enjoy the track if you're into the genre, mind even if you're not the creative flow and performance emphasis have granted a status strong enough to make it accessible for a very broad range of the outside audience.

Production

The mix has got a solid combination of recorded sounds (mainly the guitar elements) and sequenced instrumentation (mainly the keyboard/pad related instruments... and maybe the drums?); looking on at the samples provided for the backing track, they are shown to be very unusual and have been manipulated well to shine at a very high quality; one little nitpick I have here seemed to be relating to the tone on the snare sample being a bit "ringing", but that may not be shown as a crucial problem for most of the audience. EQs have been shown appropriately and have provided a solid enough sound filled with clarity all around, even on the recorded portions of the piece. The quality of the guitar recording was provided at a solid performance and has provided some further realism all around. I saw that the sound levels were very loud and brash, emphasizing on the true nature of live performance, therefore that has made for one of the arrangement's strongest qualities. Even the panning has been well emphasized, with enough spread towards the drum fragments and great thought to texture work all around. So generally, this has to be one of the best produced songs in the competition - props to you, Darangen.

Funnily enough most of my qualms seemed to match with Pretzel's...

Anyhow, well done with your position out there, and best of luck with your future works Mike.

[Cyan_Ide]

This has been one of my favorite remixes ever since I heard it on VGFrequency a while back. I'm going to go with Rexy on this one and say, "It's about time, now put some more up, Darangen."

By the way, I hope Deadly Promises comes here eventually, too, even though its a Terra mix.....

[Fridge]

Odd, I actually _liked_ the 'off' notes... maybe I'm just a bit 'off' myself...

Anyway, the whole mix was very solid, nice work.

[nomindo]

HELLZ YEAH, a very nice remix on the Chaos theme, one of my fave VG songs of all time, there is finally a mix to do it real justice. Kaijin's "A Temple of Chaos" is awesome, but its way too short. When I first heard this I was like, what the hell final fantasy song is this, then it came in, and it was sweet. I know I suck at writing remixes, but i just wanted to say how sweet this track is.

[jordex]

Definatly very cheerful and encouraging
Awesome guitar work! Alot like your DKC remix
When the guitar first comes its very lifting and upbeat

There are only two problems I had with this mix. The drum fills sound a bit awhkward, they need to be quantized better and in the middle of the guitar solo around 1:52, I say you could have chosen some better notes, they seem to be outta key there. But this is still an upbeat, rockin', ass kickin song! Kudos Darangen

[SnK-Arcbound]

I enjoyed it. Especially the beginning, which I felt was the most engaging, though I did get slightly bored near the end. And the "wrong notes" at 1:53-1:58, I listen to wrong notes and incorrect patterns all the time, I found it to be a part of the song that deviates from the norm to reengage the listener. Nice remix all around.

[DreamChaser]

I don't think the notes from 1:52-1:58 are wrong... though it is out of place, I think he just rose an octave for a few seconds... no one knows until he gives out the scores that he wrote for it.

In this piece, I think he did a great job remixing it... There's several places that he changed keys for the remix... another one for example would be 2:47-2:52... the notes do work, but he either changed an octave higher or something.

Either way, it was a nice remix!

[Txai]

Another great ReMix by Darangen. Good job indeed!