ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Prayer'

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Final Fantasy VII

OC ReMix arrangement "criteria" can be met by any combination of instrumentation, tempo alteration, addition of new elements or subtraction of original elements, restructuring, and changes in rhythm, melody, harmony, or progression that AS A WHOLE result in a piece that is in the individual judge's opinion new & different enough to constitute an OC ReMix. In this case that judge is me, and the mix in question is newcomer MENBAH!'s take on Aerith's Theme. While the melody and essential structure of the song are largely unchanged, the ReMixer has sped things up, added a completely original percussion track performed on buckets (later a very dramatic rolling snare gets added), replaced somewhat brooding harp arpeggios with a lively acoustic guitar backing, and played with some of the pauses so that things drop out in a more expectant and less reticent fashion. In other words, the piece still flows like the original and melodically sounds like the original, but you've got tempo changes, instrumentation changes, new stuff added, certain old stuff removed, and the general tone of the piece has as a result shifted overall to a more celtic, somewhat more upbeat and energetic feel. There really is a lot of emphasis on the percussion - the entire song has been transformed from a drumless piece of music into something where drums are at the very core of what's going on, and that's not a minor accomplishment or change, especially when the buckets... er, drums are as creative and dynamic as they are here, with great stereo separation to boot. The electric guitar lead has a clear, crunchy tone, and when the choir comes in around 2'11 timed with a snare pattern, things live up to the mix title in that they seem almost hymnal. There's often a lot of confusion as to what constitutes enough "arrangement" to qualify as an OC ReMix. Despite marked similarities in form to Uematsu's original, the changes MENBAH! has made here rework the piece into something with a different tone as the result of afforementioned additions, subtractions, instrumentation, and tempo increase, and these - combined with an ear for the sonic side of the fence - can be quite potent mutators in their own right. I listened to it side by side with the original and while the form is there in both cases, they sound like dramatically different but equally worthy pieces of work to me. Obviously, there's a good deal of subjectivity involved in weighing these many factors, but this mix breathes new life into the original and I think many of you will agree + enjoy.

― djpretzel

Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
The original is really beautiful, but this remix is pretty cool. I love the electric guitar here but the drumming just sounds a bit off to me...

- lifelistling on October 4, 2009
So yeah, just listened to this on my foray through Eastern...err, I mean OCR1001-1250. The guitar tone is not something I've never heard, but what it is is really, really out of place over a background consisting of piano, acoustic guitar, bucket drums, and soft choir ahhs. Hearing it in this context, along with the choppiness, slight mistakes, and intonation issues, makes it sound more amateur (and frankly, obnoxious) than it perhaps would in a different situation. Honestly this is the kind of arrangement that would elicit outright laughter at a DoD listening party.
Oh well, they can't all be winners.

- Dhsu on October 2, 2008
Charming stuff. Love the buckets. The guitar is played choppily as hell, but it really makes me smile. It's so exposed, over-the-top loud and screechy and choppy it's good. That may or may not be what the musician was going for, but it works for me!
--Eino

- evktalo on August 26, 2008
This is one hell of a song it sounds Almost perfect i think the lead gituar is abit to Heavy for the background and the style of song and i think it would sound nice in acoustic gituar but never the less i give it 8.5/10

- Slasher on November 15, 2005
Whether or not that guitar is real, it sounds awful.
Not my type of piece at all. The percussions sounds like lots of clipping to me.
Nah, I prefer the original.

Who doesn´t, the original is a beautiful master piece.
But that´s not the point. I got very excited when I heard it start, an acoustic remix! Good, very good, can´t get enuff about them, can we?
I got a little disappointed when the electric guitar abruptly came into the scene, but after a while, I liked it, I really did. The drums are awesome, just as pretzeldude said, so crdit for him for pointin that out. And the choir that began in the back at 2:09, making this mix beautiful too, just like the original. Great mix, great arrangement, and a great desicion from MENBAH! for making this special version of our beloved Aeris. Kudos dude.

- Bummerdude on October 21, 2005
i definitely like the upbeat feeling that this has... it's a nice change from the slightly melancholy feeling that the Aeris theme usually has.

- YuffieKisaragi on October 20, 2005
personaly i found this remix very good, mainly because it brought back memories (very nice ones) from my loved FFVII, i think that remixes wether (im not sure of the spelling of this) ``hard worked or simple´´ can be good or bad, it all depends on what they make you feel. (just personal opinnion ^^ anywayz congrats menhab!

- adikivas on August 24, 2005
As a matter of fact, the guitarist had been playing for ten years when he recorded this song. Perhaps he meant the playing to sound simplistic?

- habnem on July 30, 2005
As a 4-year guitarist, I'm going to have to totally rip on the lead playing. I thought it was pretty atrocious to be honest. Stacatto is one thing but this just sounds like the player has no control over his instrument whatsoever. There is a complete absence of vibrato, sounds like the guy's never heard of the term "alternate picking", and feeling is totally lacking here.
Believe me, 95% of the music I listen to is heavily guitar oriented and the playing (not to mention the tone/mixing) is just pretty bad and something you'd expect from somebody who's been playing for perhaps 4 months...

- XenoWang on May 22, 2005
As a four-year guitar player...
AWESOME SHIT.

- The Link Freak on July 28, 2004
this was probably my favorite piece in the ost, so it's nice to find a version of it that isn't a midi. no critisism to the dj here, but are we ever going to get an orchestral version of this song?

- the frantic melon on June 17, 2004
I thought the guitar sounded extremley nice. And by the way it is a freal guitar! Are you people deaf? The guitar was using a distortion pedal. Anyways if you want the Tabs for it i got them. It took me a long time to get them but if you want them either email me at [email]oprtnska@netscape.net[/email] or IM on AIM at Undercover Lint.

- Ska on June 15, 2004
I like it. This song totally deserves to be on the site. First off, this is only one of 2 Aeris songs here...and the drums are kick ass. The guitar seems to be a lot more tolerable during the 2nd half of the song, why that is I don't know...maybe because there are more sounds going on with "ahh" and the acoustic guitar.
Thumbs up. Now let's hear a 2nd song from ya.

- Krelian on May 24, 2004
thought this was in general amazing. my only crits.
everything else was sooooo high quality, that choir just fell flat and gave little meaning to anything, should've just removed it, if it was going to be so "eh" compared to the other instruments.
otherwise, spoon remix!

- pixlz on May 24, 2004
I have a problem with the statement about how the guitar isn't bad sounding because it's "been done before in a lot of guitar-based music". Are you suggesting that we're not supposed to describe a certain technique or type of sound as low-quality if it's been utilized in a given quantity of music? "Popular" doesn't always equal "good" (and IMO, this is true most of the time). I could give examples, but I think the point is straight-forward enough. I thought the guitar playing didn't flow well, and contrasted jarringly against the calm consistant sounds of the other instruments; as if the distorted guitar wasn't enough of a contrast as it was. I had no problem with this remix, and it was pretty good for being done with live instruments. However the arrangement was too simple, and this mix can't fly on originality due to the bucket drums alone. Sure, the arrangement may have changed the tempo, but that has been done many, many times before on this site.
No offence to Menbah, as it seems he just got in the middle of something bigger.

- Kaleb.G on May 7, 2004

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