ReMix:Final Fantasy VIII "Of Dreams and Time" 4:54

By Nekofrog

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"The Extreme", "The Man with the Machine Gun"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy VIII (Square , 1999, PS1), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2012-02-08, evaluated by the judges panel


For Neko's first posted mix of 2012, he gives us some FF8 rock/metal that starts off mellow and introspective but ends up kicking out the jams @ 1'21" and thereafter; Justin's done some great things w/ FF7, let's see how he tackles its successor:

"This one's been pretty much done for a while, but was always missing some things that kept me from submitting it. I'm still not entirely happy with it, as I had to record and mix it without anything other than a cheap $5 pair of headphones. Because of that, I'm sure there's bound to be an abundance of production issues. One of the funny things about this song is that Fishy's and my version of The Extreme share an almost identical riff somewhere in the middle; we found out completely by accident when comparing them a while back."

Strictly speaking, this might not be quite as polished from a production perspective as Justin's other stuff, but I hardly noticed, so maybe those cheap $5 headphones are where it's at, who knows. I'm certainly glad he subbed it, because while he was apparently on the fence a bit, I'm digging the arrangement. OA was, too, except for the fadeout:

"The mixing is a little rhythm guitar heavy and scooped, with the leads somewhat buried, but the arrangement works pretty well, with good transitions, and some exciting new material. Transitions are solid, and the drums are good enough with some variations and little flourishes. The weakest part is the ending, which feels pretty weak. I guess a fade sortof works, but I think a more composed ending would have been more satisfying. Overall it works though."

Cain echoes the sentiment:

"Hah, I totally remember that conversation. Neko was looking for a someone to play some super-fast lead bits (that I couldn't do either) and by lols I had an incomplete remix of the same thing. They were so similar in some aspects (the breakdown in particular) but so different at the same time. Not really much to add to the other votes. Definitely above bar but the ending is a little disappointing."

Those pesky fadeout endings - sometimes they don't seem to bother anybody, sometimes they get picked on by seemingly everybody. Rarely a dealbreaker, though, and let's be clear: Nekofrog + production on cheap headphones + questionable fadeout ending STILL equals a pretty damn good mix. I like that the mellow intro isn't just a lead-in, but a more full-fledged idea that takes its sweet time, and delivers. There's contemplation, rock-out noodling, epileptic chugging, and generally good variety, so while this may not be Neko at the tip-top of his game, it's still enjoyable, energizing, diverse, and impressive stuff.

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 12 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2013-04-30 15:44:30

Well, when you took on The Extreme, you nailed it down pretty good. I can say that I enjoyed this ReMix and I won't dwell on the little minor things others already picked out. Since fade outs don't bug me all that much, it didn't do so here. Not bad.

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Bahamut
on 2012-07-16 00:38:57

I guess I won't really get into the production issues much, although I do want to note that the guitar playing before the chugs start in the song sounds not as tight as they should be and sticks out like a sore thumb for me.

Going to have to agree with OA that the ending was weak. Otherwise, solid take on The Extreme (for the most part).

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meccaneer
on 2012-05-21 21:43:18

This is awesome; a true guitar song - plenty of feeling and dynamicity, backed by simple drums and synth. One really minor thing that tripped me up: the transition at 1.21 - where is it? Let's face it - there wasn't one. One second you're doing this, the next, that. I would normally expect more playing with tension there.

Things that didn't bother me: the fade-out - it was fine. Would it have been nice to soar into an orchestral barrage? Maybe. But, it's been done. The non-dynamic drums - they were fine too. I've seen a lot of live bands play with a drum machine and they sound great. This is a guitar song and the drums backed the guitar by being simple and straightforward When you add dynamics and tons of fills and cymbal, it takes away just a little limelight from the guitar.

Overall - awesome.

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Doulifée
on 2012-02-28 15:06:14

Was listening to this a few seconds ago, nice handling with the extreme.

kudos to your guitarz skills.

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Mirby
on 2012-02-12 12:57:05
welcome to the over-compressed headphone users club, my brother.

I like your guitar style a lot, and your previous mix is still on my weekly jam list (and it's in the same key!!!! woooowwwzzzerrrzzz killer segue dude!); plus, you got unanimous yes's from the panel!

quote from youtube: "If i was a women i would husband him "

lmao.

Too bad he's already been husbanded. :P

but yeah, slick track man. Glad to hear more from ya! :3

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Sixto
on 2012-02-12 12:25:17
best remix on the site and the remixer is a very sexy man

Sí, es muy bueno

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Raelena
on 2012-02-09 15:01:30

For me, at least in the intro, it almost immediately took me back to the days of the original diablo music in tristram. Was a nice nostalgic feel to the song, before it picks up and crashes in with the more metal based background.

I loved it personally, well done!

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DominusVita
on 2012-02-09 10:41:49

Besides the moment of Synth at 2:47, I think this is a well-made piece. It fits perfectly with the metal genre(which happens to be my favorite). The introduction doesn't feel drawn out, more like it's building tension instead. I've heard a few remixes of 'The Extreme' like All existence denied, but I think I prefer this one. Not as full-on-nuts metal like Heavy Mako, but it's enough to get your head banging while remembering to use all the holy war potions you saved up. To survive this song, you may need them.

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Damashii!!
on 2012-02-08 21:58:14

welcome to the over-compressed headphone users club, my brother.

I like your guitar style a lot, and your previous mix is still on my weekly jam list (and it's in the same key!!!! woooowwwzzzerrrzzz killer segue dude!); plus, you got unanimous yes's from the panel!

quote from youtube: "If i was a women i would husband him "

lmao.

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Brandon Strader
on 2012-02-08 19:43:03

It's a great song and arrangement for sure.

But there's a lot of production issues that are bothering in a similar way to Neko's last mix.

There's no diversity in the drum velocities and they're STILL OVERCOMPRESSED. Those damn pumpy cymbals. Saying $5 headphones isn't an excuse, I got a set of Gear One G40DX full frequency headphones for free, and they're generally a super cheap set of headphones, but they're the most accurate sounding speaker system in my house. So there.

I think this battle with cymbal compression is something you've been struggling with pretty much forever, and you're only going to improve if some jerk like me comes out and yells about it on every mix that comes out with bad cymbal pumping. And your hihats either have a solid velocity throughout, or like at 3:39 the open hat is quiet and the pedal hat is a lot louder... it makes no sense. Listening to it is unpleasant but obviously not a dealbreaker, it's just an annoying, irksome thing because your mixes always get by with this kind of sound and most other people aren't quite so lucky to get through the panel with glaring flaws like that, with overcompressed drums with no velocities.

As for the scooping in the rhythms, really doesn't bother me at all. It's a stylistic choice and I think it works. It gives space to your leads and allows them to be clearly audible pretty much from the get go. It'd probably work well for vocals too if you ever used 'em. ;-) I love the clean tones, and the drums don't seem quite as bad there, but that overcompressed, static snare is pretty ugly.

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Nekofrog
on 2012-02-08 19:25:47

best remix on the site and the remixer is a very sexy man

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djpretzel
on 2012-02-08 18:43:21

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

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy VIII (Square , 1999, PS1)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"The Extreme"
"The Man with the Machine Gun"

Tags (4)


Genre:
Metal,Rock
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_8_Of_Dreams_and_Time_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,148,527 bytes
MD5:
f3a79f755f18d620168caae1450f9b70
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
4:54

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