[Liontamer]

Hey, it's me again!

It's been a while since my last submission, and this time I teamed up one Derek Oren - who's a great sample artist way beyond my abilities with that sort of thing - in order to create a multi-movement cantata based on everyone's favourite Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy 6. I'm sure everyone thinks this piece should have got the "One Winged Angel" treatment from Uematsu's orchestrators, and after I heard the rendition from the fourth Symphonic Game Music concert in August of 2006 I knew that wasn't going to happen. I didn't like that orchestration at all, and thought it was amateurish and irresponsible towards Uematsu's music (practically a marketing gimmick, like many new game concert arrangements are turning out to be) so I decided instead of complaining about it, I'd put my orchestration/arranging/composing abilities to the test and make my own version. I definitely couldn't do it alone, so Derek took over where I needed help the most: production.

I've never done a collab before, so I looked at previous collabs on ocremix and figured if you decided to post this, here's what Derek wants to say:

"Working with Jeremy on this project was a huge honor. When we first started working on this project together I knew right away that with his composing, arranging talents and my sampling and editing skills we would produce something great. Most challenging part of this collaboration was getting the choir to blend with the orchestra. Once we got that taken care of it was a breeze. Both Jeremy and I hope that you enjoy the first movement of themes surrounding the charcter Kefka from Final Fantasy VI (my favorite)"

Credits:
Cantata for Dancing: I. Mors ego sum mortis
Based on a theme by Nobuo Uematsu (Dancing Mad from Final Fantasy 6 OST 3-14)
Arrangement and orchestrations by Jeremy Robson
Sample/synth programming, lyrics, and additional orchestrations by Derek Oren

Lyrics (approximately):
Vae victis, lacrimosa, gloriosa
Rex Aeterna
Ah
Tu suscipe pro animabus illis
Mors ego sum mortis

Woe to the vanquished, mournful tear, glorious
Eternal King
Ah
whom today we commemorate
I am the death of death

Submission Info:
Name: Jeremy Robson
e-mail: jeremy.robson@gmail.com
website: jeremy.narphonax.com
forum id: 5955

Name: Derek Oren
e-mail: derako@charter.net
website: http://www.soundclick.com/bands/page...?bandID=686739
forum id: 20212

Link: http://jeremy.narphonax.com/temp/Morsegosummortis.html

[zircon]

Very dramatic, very well-executed remix. I initially said NO to this as a direct post because I wanted to point out that I felt the choral writing and arrangement was a bit disappointing. The choir tended to just sing the same things that other instruments were playing in the original, rather than build new harmonies and go in a new direction. That was a big letdown for me - I could predict nearly every chord the choir was doing. The arrangement was also a little bit of a mixed bag. The original material and variation was great, but some sections were really close to the original in almost every way.

Ultimately, I think this is well above the bar. That goes without saying. But I think the mixers could have put more variation into the choir and the parts of the arrangement that stuck close with the source. That would have turned this from a fantastic remix into a legendary one.

YES

[Liontamer]

Is Jeremy taking a jab at stuff like VG Live in his sub letter? :-D I hope it's not PLAY! though, since Uematsu was the most heavily involved in that concert series. Maybe he can give some more background on that; I know I'm interested.

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - "Dancing Mad (part 1)" [ff6-314a.spc]

Honestly, I wasn't overly impressed by the sound quality. That's not to say it's bad at all. It's fine, and the samples are clearly good. But I've heard more cohesive, deeper-sounding, richer-sounding stuff. It could partly be an issue of the low volume making things seem a lot less impactful.

Like djp mentioned in #judges, the choral work is where this shines. The vocals are very realistic. The rest sounds ok, but not blowaway.

Wouldn't have minded a more extended transition to the next section of Dancing Mad at 3:38. I know it's mimicking the original, but it also ends up sounding a lot more abrupt than the original. Ha, a "Terra" cameo at 5:20. The changeup to the cameo felt a bit choppy/abrupt; will listen more. Very minor crit.

For the most part, the arrangement held fast to the structure of the original, but the writing is nicely expanded and personalized with epic-sounding spices.

But of course...

YES

[JJT]

sounds great. nice work guys.

(specially like the lyrics)

YES

[pixietricks]

Yeah, I heard this a little while ago when we were discussing direct post worthiness, and I was a little apprehensive at first. Still, not much needs to be said. This is well above the bar, and I'm sure a lot of people are going to enjoy it.

Anyone familiar with the Vision of Escaflowne (TV series) OST? Reminds me a LOT of "Dance of Curse" starting at around 1:50 when the tambourine comes in. :>

YES