Vig

NO Vocals. Nuff said. That aside, you've got a pretty good track here. Maybe consider getting someone else to sing, and you'd be solid.

So it is very rare that a quantized solo part, especially as an intro or outro, will not sound mechanical and akward. A lot of this track is somewhat poorly written. The drums rarely change at all, and harp lines that consist of constant 8th notes don't sound musical at all. This type of thing happens a lot. You'll get a line that you like, and you'll repeat it ad-nauseum until i want the room to stop spinning. Stepping back, I'd say the larger problem is that you need more space in your writing. NO

Bad call; at the 3:30 mark the music abruptly cuts out and is replaced by an old woman making a string of profane threats to the Jewish community. The track is a tad...boring. It's nice, to be sure, but it starts slow, and stays that way. I think it would be twice as good if it were just a minute shorter. The vocals are fantastic, but the drums are monotonous. I think the monotony would be more tolerable if they were a bit less busy. not that they are terribly busy now, but if they required less attention, I wouldnt mind that they are so repetitive. I have no problem if this passes, but I really think the track could benefit from a bit of fat-trimming. NO

I'd agree that the writing in general, from the ground up, is akward and sort of spastic. The drums in particular are repetitive and poorly written. There's very little variation in texture, or just musicality in general. NO

First of all, I'm rather upset that in my absence, the term "Lightning Round" has expanded beyond larry to enter the panel vernacular. that said, trimming the track down was a good idea, however from the very beginning all the way through, I'm rather unimpressed by the partwriting. There are tons of duplicated lines, or "parallel octaves" as they say. That in and of itself doesn't say much, but what it means is that the parts are boring and lack interesting harmony. I'd still say the track lacks direction. it now just ends more suddenly. I think it needs greater dynamic range, and more interesting harmony. NO

the first thirty seconds shook the fillings right out of my teeth. Thoroughly groovetacular, and while it generally hovers around the same material and the same dynamic level, there's enough going on to keep my attention. YES

In this track I hear Metroid, Undertaker, Schala...unfortunately none of these ideas really develop. It's plodding, but not terribly atmospheric. Some of the oboe writing is effective, but the track seems like three minutes of noodling, like there was no real plan. NO

Not bad arrangement. The performance is not quite tight. it's not terrible though, because the parts arent terribly complex, but there are slipped rhythms in particular, that irritate. The stereo separation on the guitars is stark, but effective, I think. Big issue for me is the bass, which is very dry, and very muddy. got to bring it out with some midrange frequencies, The drums are notably dry as well. reverb. not bad. NO

I immediately notice that the piano is muddy, the lower voicings are too close. aside from that, the sequencing is very mechanical. I don't really think there's anything else to say at this point. NO

you guys should really keep those guitars in their cases.

Lots of potential. Like everyone else, i'm close on this one. The second minute of the track is fantastic, but the rest is missing something. Don't know if I have anything else to say. I'd like to hear this one again, with a bit more going on. NO

yeah larry said it. The texutres are too generic and the writing is too simplistic for this track to keep my attention. It's just thin. I literally LoL!!~ed when the voice clip came in. NO

This is a great soundtrack. The remix however, aside from a few short interpretive interludes, is pretty close to a cover. What really bothers me is that the orchestration is akward. The string and horn parts are crawling over each other for attention, clashing and making the soundfield a mess. Danny B must be rolling in his grave. The samples completely make this one. If the samples werent so good the slopply partwriting would stick out even more and be completely inexcusable. I'm glad to see this soundtrack get some love, but this track is a sloppy arrangement hiding under expensive samples. NO

This song unfortunately has very little to do with Final Fantasy 7. NO

the piano intro is very bare. there's no velocity variation, and the sequencing is mechanical. This problem persists through the track, and the piano often plays parts that are unlikely to be played live. All i can say other than that is the composition is very sparse and doesnt really go anywhere. Needs more ideas to be engaging. too much space. NO

The bass isn't doing anything different. It's playing the Root. The synth pad plays the 4, then the tritone an octave down, then the 2, then the b3. It's presumably the semitone (really a M7) between the 4 and the +4 that you're commenting on, not to mention the tritone in and of itself. However, given the atmospheric nature of the piece, i think it's awfully nitpicky to call this "wrong" when it certainly does its job of evoking a certain atmosphere.

So i've got to say, the arrangement here is great, but it's really hurt by the instrumentation. These synths sound like poorly-chosen defaults. they really dont fit the parts. also, around 2:30 it passes a benchmark of clutter that just doesnt work. there are clashing notes, and the guitars are clumsy. Like I said, your arrangement is great, but you need to change the instruments. NO

Not necessary at this point, but i'd like to throw in that the slow attacks really hurt this track. the samples arent up to the parts. shorten the attacks on those thangs.

sounds like you changed the instrumentation and that's about it. the synths you use are pretty cool, but we need like...arrangement and junk. NO

Uh...what are you listening to? the MMX1 plot progression theme is present throughout most of the remix.

Certainly minimalistic in a certain way; in that atmospherics, mood, and groove play a bigger part than melody. However, within those parameters, the song works great. The atmospherics work great. the sweeping pan at 1:23 is beautiful. The mood is very mellow yet engaging. There's plenty of evolution and expansion for my taste...I never get bored with it, and there are plenty of little things going on to keep the listener's attention. The triplet rhythms are at times reminiscent of another song of the same OST *looks it up* Mi'hen Highroad. anyway, this one is solidly above the bar. YES

the pads are very nice, and the sax is well recorded and sounds smooth, in spite of a few notes of shaky intonation. However, this is pretty much a cover. Some of the rhythms are more choppy and akward than in the original. this is a good concept, but you really need to make it more your own before we can pass it. The flute solo is a good start, if only adequately written. I'd say keep the concept, but build it again, with more arrangement in mind. NO

I agree with Malcos; the prelude arrangement is an interesting concept, if underdeveloped. Unfortunately the body of the track is repetitive and rather harsh. the instruments are grating, and the composition is simple and repetitive. I'd keep working with the intro, because that has some real potential. NO

Good drum sequencing, and strong bass parts. the writing as a whole is pretty good, but there's very little going on dynamically. It's overcompressed. The vocal samples are very hokey, as are the guitar samples. The writing is good, but i'm going to wait to hear some more dynamic subtlety. lets fix that compression. NO

OCR will be a better place once everyone but me leaves. Then I'll finally get smoe fucking quiet around here.