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Liontamer

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    OCRA-0078 - Final Fantasy VIII: SeeDs of Pandora

    in Album Reviews & Comments

    Posted

     

    To talk about SeeDs of Pandora, I feel I should start with Secret of Mana. It was my first RPG that I have ever played and it sparked the flame to play more in this genre. It ultimately led me to playing Final Fantasy VI (III at the time) for the SNES. I was hooked on the RPG genre and I wanted more Final Fantasy. Sadly, Sony had moved on from Nintendo at this point and all the cool new games, VII, VIII, IX, and more, were released on PlayStation systems - systems I was too young to have money for with parents who weren't willing to shell out more for additional consoles. So it would be near a decade before I had a chance to play Final Fantasy again and this time it was on the PC with the PC ports of Final Fantasy VII and VIII (strangely, IX never got one). And of course, my first Final Fantasy played was VIII. Coming back to the series after being gone from it for so long was like coming home and Final Fantasy VIII just seemed to be this perfect welcoming party of a game for me. I loved its characters, its world, and its music - the battle/junction system and card game would grow on me later.

    Fast-forward to now and I was given the opportunity to direct a defunct FFVIII OC ReMix album project. It was attempted once, but for reasons, it fell through. I was offered, due to my experience in directing Arcadia Legends and Mizar Attacks!, the chance to direct and revive this album - being the last Final Fantasy of the PlayStation era not to have an OC ReMix album. Directing an album isn't easy, especially one of this magnitude that could easily reach 40 tracks or more. I mean, it took us 3 years to finish Arcadia Legends and that was 36 tracks! Enter Jorito, my co-director and essentially my lifeline throughout this entire process. If it weren't for him, I highly doubt this project would have gotten off the ground, let alone finished in record time. It was his insistence and push to give the entire album a year's timeline to complete all claimed tracks - a decision that paid off well and gave incentive to remixers to strive to complete their claims in record time! Jorito is just as much a director as I was on this project and is truly the star MVP of the album.

    Despite having a solid directing team and the backing of OC ReMix to revive this project as an official album straight out of the starting gate, we still needed a solid vision for the project. We could have gone the traditional route and just do a chronological ordering of tracks from the beginning of the game to the end and let remixers decide what theming and genre is best for their claimed tracks - or we could go a more unique route and create special, themed groupings of tracks. Taking inspiration from the Spectrum of Mana album, directed by Nate Horsfall, I divided up FFVIII's soundtrack into three distinct styles:

    CALM - Chill and slow remixes that had a cultural bent either via arrangement or unique instrument use that gave visions of a specific culture.
    CRAZY - Toe-tapping, floor-thumping, heart-pounding beats and fast, frenetic energy in remix form.
    GOOFY - Songs that are remixed in ways you would not expect, for example taking a waltz and making it death metal. Constantly surprise the listener and betray their expectations.

    With the vision set, we recruited far and wide for remixers and artists. The unique flavoring of the three discs drew interested creatives to the project and helped nurture fantastic remixes and artwork. It was around this time, as musicians flooded in to claim tracks, that we might have more finished tracks by the end than the planned three discs could handle and thus the further theming of the album began to revolve around the three Gardens in the game: Balamb, Galbadia, and Trabia. However, the need for that fourth disc loomed and the only other option left which made the most sense was the Lunatic Pandora (or the Pandora) disc. With these themes locked in, the artists went to work straight away and created some fantastic pieces that matched the original vision. With the help of Jorito, it was an amazingly smooth experience and we managed to get a complete album finished in just over a year's time with a whopping 69 tracks!

    But wait, there's more! In the 11th hour, weeks before we were to submit the album to OC ReMix, ZackParrish, among others, spearheaded a crazy last-minute bonus disc with 11 more tracks (get it, 11th hour?!) to cover any last, remaining songs on the OST the core album couldn't. It was a fun, insane rush to the finish line and with a final tally of 80 tracks in total, we have officially broken the record as of 2023 as being the biggest album ever produced out of OC ReMix! We are kings (and queens)! Kudos to all the talented people who helped make this album a reality! It was a joy working on this and seeing it come together.

    Finally, one final note to you, the listener: If you are expecting these remixes to adhere close to their original inspirations or to have faithful adaptations of well-known and beloved tracks, then this album might not be for you. The intent with this album was to embrace the remix aspect of OC ReMix fully and to interpret the original melodies in ways you might not have heard before. Our goal is to provide something new and transformative with these songs. So go in with an open mind and know that this listening experience was carefully crafted to take you on a journey (I should know! I ordered the tracks specifically to flow in a way that felt natural). We hope you enjoy this album and may it always rekindle your fond memories of your time playing Final Fantasy VIII.

    From the SeeDs of Pandora team to you: Happy listening!

    - Darkflamewolf

    I've been hooked on JRPGs and Final Fantasy in particular since discovering SNES emulators back in the late 90s, and that hasn't changed since. The very first console I owned was the original PlayStation (PSX), and the starter game I bought with it was Final Fantasy 7. And of course two years later I also made sure to get myself a copy of Final Fantasy 8. To this day I still distinctly remember the "WTF is going on" near the end of the game and, whatever the story was trying to tell me, it flew right over my head.

    Fast-forward about fifteen years, and I got into VGM remixing and became an active member of the OC ReMix community. So when an album project got started to remix the Final Fantasy 8 music, I of course had to join and make a track for it. Unfortunately that album initiative got stranded early on in the process, something that always left me feeling a bit sad. At the time I was just wrapping up the OCR Secret of Mana album and was in need of a break, but I always kept the FF8 album in mind to potentially pick up as a (co-)director later. Given the sheer size of the OST I didn't want to do it alone though. So the idea got shelved for a few years.

    That is, until Darkflamewolf randomly brought up the comatose FF8 album on the OC ReMix Discord in August 2021. We started talking about the album, djpretzel pointed out that I had expressed interest in helping out a few years before, and after a few chats we decided to team up and rejuvenate the Final Fantasy 8 album and make sure that the only missing OCR Final Fantasy PSX game album got the tribute it deserved. I did have one specific aim though: I wanted to get it done in about a year, because I know how much work these album projects can be and how hard it can be to keep people motivated long enough to create and deliver their tracks. All set and done, we outlined a rough planning, Darkflamewolf sketched out a compelling vision and tracklist suggestion for each disc and came up with a title, I started recruiting far and wide (apparently being in the VGM community for a while and doing lots of collaborations is a good way to build a network), and we were off to the races.

    And boy, what a journey it was! We managed to interest a lot of people from the VGM community, with a good mix of OC ReMix veterans, people from other communities, and newcomers. We created a Discord server for the album to help coordinate things (not a small feat with I think in total some 70+ people), many fun conversations were had there, and the setup overall led to a positive, supportive environment that made the whole experience very enjoyable. And of course I would be amiss if I didn't mention the collaboration with Darkflamewolf; we worked really well together as a directing team, each of us with their own areas of expertise and roles yet always united to get the album done and cheering all the artists that joined us on this journey. All in all it was a very smooth experience, and I think all everyone involved should be very proud of what we've achieved together.

    I hope all the fun and joy we had while creating this album for you shines through, and that you, dear listener, enjoy this fresh new take on the music of Final Fantasy 8 as much as we enjoyed making it.

    - Jorrith Schaap (Jorito)

    cover.png

    OCR04488 - *YES* Paper Mario "Sing, Sing, Sing Your Heart Out" *PRIORITY*

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    I let Grayson know about the J's feedback, and he took a look at things, but wasn't sure the end result would be better. Here's his response from 5/3:

    "Happy Wednesday! I made a brief 1-hour attempt at remixing, but I don't think I made an actual improvement, lol. I just tacked on new EQs and made cuts, but I think stacking EQs ended up causing some weird artifacting that I don't like? I'm not sure. I'm having a hard time trusting my ears lately. Mixing is hard with lack of sleep, lol.

    I can send it to you if you like, but otherwise I think the original mix will do."

    I said "no worries", so we'll post what we've passed as is. :-)

    ReMixer PirateCrab (Daniel Woodyer) has passed away (1992-2023)

    in Announcements

    Posted

    We're sad to share that ReMixer Daniel "PirateCrab" Woodyer passed away yesterday, Apr. 26th, at only 30 years old, surrounded by his family. He would have turned 31 next month.

    Daniel was one of the BEST metal performers in the game music arrangement scene. He contributed 10 pieces to OC ReMix since his first from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 nearly a decade ago, and participated in several community efforts including Pixel Mixers, Shinesparkers, one collaborative performance for Dwelling of Duels, and a pair of OCR albums: Castlevania tribute Vampire Variations III as well as Jet Force Gemini: Mizar Attacks!

    He will be missed and will live on through his music.

    Rest in Power, Daniel. ?
    * https://ocremix.org/artist/12706/piratecrab

    *NO* Castlevania "Vampyric Pixels"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Opens up very prominsingly; I love the initial instrumentation, so I'm wondering how this could start out with a NO. The fakey-piano at :25 was not a great sign, but it was a stylistic thing and seemed fine in the grand scheme of things -- certainly not an out-of-the-ordinary sound for this genre. Track then escalates with saws at :42. Something was sounding too abrasive, buzzy, and muddy with the saws as they rose in volume, around :54 or so.

    As soon as the beats arrived at :59, the soundscape was sounding very lossy; the "tss" beats (not the big kicks) were getting swallowed up and were barely audible, and the additional tick-a-tick-a stuff added in at 1:12 (and again at 2:43) was audible but still significantly muffled and obscured. Right now, all the space is taken up by the saw and beats until 1:55, and you don't hear any significant part-writing underneath the melody to add some depth to the composition, so it feels very simplistic (i.e. melody + beats).

    I overall liked the transition into the chippy palette at 1:55; it's abrupt, but OK. The textures gradually build up, but ultimately felt barren for too long, but things picked back up by 2:30, so I'll get over that. That said, when things filled out more for the 2:30 section, the beat-writing was super plain and droning, with the beats mixed in too loudly over everything else, and the textures feeling too simplistic & basic, which left the final minute sounding underdeveloped and underwhelming. The original writing with sprinkles of the source motifs from 2:30-2:57 was OK, just too quietly mixed.

    The mixing most of the way could be tweaked for clarity and to allow some additonal part-writing to be better heard, which would make the track more texturally interesting and varied. Like MindWanderer said, there's much to be done, but there's a decent base there for sure.

    NO (resubmit)

    *NO* Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Ages "Oracle Calling"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Definitely opens as just a chip of a chip but it was a very brief bookend type of opening reference (i.e. no issue here!), and quickly shifted into the full-on orchestration at :19. I also wasn't bothered by the structuring of the seperate pieces; even if this hadn't been the order they were used in the game, things flowed reasonably smoothly like different brief movements of the overall piece.

    The mixing of the orchestration's definitely muddy, which was unfortunate. The samples were given some body, but stuff like the brass sounded super fake (e.g. :58) and has no real resonance, which needs to be achieved with more realistic-sounding samples or room ambiance effects.

    Whoa, some piercing stuff going on from 1:30-1:46 in the morass of the chiptune/orchestration layering that definitely doesn't work. Pretty much the whole way, any time the track got dense, it was a cluttered mess.

    I liked the varied instrumentation of the title theme at 1:48, which was the highlight of the piece, and easily made it a solid pass for me on the arrangement level.

    Arrangement-wise, I'm on board. Production-wise, it's needs some spring cleaning; you've got piercing highs, and you've got messy textures when things are sounding their fullest.

    I'd recommend getting Workshop feedback, especially if you haven't yet already, Nicholas, to determine how you can properly mix and balance these parts and get them sounding their best. The written base is here, and aside from some weaker samples in the brass, you've got strong instrumentation as well, so I'd love to see this posted in some form. Now you need some careful fine-tuning and polishing re: the sound quality; eliminate the piercing moments and achieve a sharper, more balanced sound through selective EQing. Loads of potential here, and you're certainly a name to watch out for!

    NO (resubmit)

    OCR04464 - *YES* Kirby 64 "The Last Dead Angel" *RESUB*

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    I'm sorry to Erik for ethering his track in the unending void of nothingness that is "What the fuck do we do with this?" as I know he was justifiably mad about this never going up, he likely assumed this was rejected after the fact, and I'm sure he's long since moved past enjoying this dozen-year-old piece; the disrespect he felt in how this was handled, without any urgency or communication, is 100% exclusively my fault.

    I'm listening through again a dozen years later, surprised that no fan or community ever had the piece of the puzzle on who actually made the "fairuzonss" arrangement this was based off of, and believe me, I definitely tried. My best guess is that it's a doujin scene piece that was lifted, but maybe a true Kirby music diehard has information that I couldn't find.

    Typically, when an artist bases their work off of another fan arrangement (in the case of this, the tempo, some of the dynamics & structure, some core beat-writing), it of course needs to stand apart enough from that initial rendition (which this version does), and we'd also like to obtain an OK from that other arranger and formally co-credit them, especially in this case where significant enough aspects of the initial arrangement were retained. But unless someone IDs who really made quote-unquote "fairuzonss' The Revenge of Zero Two", we just can't 100% close the loop on it, and the initial arrangement is still mainly known from its dishonest artist credit and title. (If the initial arrangement's true artist is uncovered one day, we'll reach out to that person and credit them accordingly.)

    Age notwithstanding, Erik's arrangement of an arrangement passed the bar at the time, and after unintentionally punishing him over a technicality that wasn't his choosing, we'll post it, and maybe we'll subsequently have the luck of also unearthing who was behind the original arrangement.

    *NO* Paper Mario "Tale of the Star Rod" *PRIORITY*

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Thanks to Lucas for the source usage breakdown, which I appreciate. I pitched shifted this track to be twice as fast, I also slowed down the source to half-speed to focus on just the source's leads as suggested. All that said, I'd still argue that the transformation's not particularly recognizable, and that's gonna make this DOA. I'll come back to it as well though.

    ?

    EDIT (5/14): Sorry to Lucas, Tim, Ian, Chris, and Nautilus; I WANT to hear the source melody and be able to get behind this, and -- being 100% clear -- the OCR bar isn't about "would a casual listener be able to recognize the source?", but the judges do need to be able to do so when they compare things. Reharmonizing it, AND slowing it down, AND changing the rhythms... yeah, I'm in a similar boat to MindWanderer. I'm trying to recognize the source, but I'm only partially there and the breakdown still doesn't do enough to make me feel like I'm hearing the source melodies clearly when I compare things. As I said earlier, I even sped the track up to 2X speed so that the tempo would be closer to the original, hoping the speed would be the main confounding factor, but that unfortunately wasn't the case. Cerebral arrangements are just fine (we've got plenty), but I've tried to make the connections, and I definitely can't.

    NO

    *NO* Space Harrier "Main BGM CFX"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Very tepid beat at :12. By :25, the flimsiness of the beats was wearing thin already. I like the arrangement concepts, but the instrumentation's very underwhelming, and it doesn't ever turn the corner, IMO. This would have been a pass in the early days of the site for sure, but the bar for sound quality's risen since then.

    The bassline from :50-1:14 seems out of tune at points (most audibly from 1:00-1:02), and it's a really thin sample. And by a minute in, it's clear the snare shots are in metronome territory, so this, in tandem with the basic bassline, really plods. There's more activity and creativity in the hat writing, but it's mixed so quietly that it barely registers.

    I'm surprised at these YESs; this isn't anywhere near what I'd pass re: sound quality. This sounds like a WIP where the foundation is in place and the production polish will come next. The sound design needs that extra level of polish, instead of leaving dry and exposed parts like the keys at 2:32 & 3:44. I liked the airy line from 2:48-2:55, nice touch, and the transition into 3:44 section sounded more well-rounded before the keys arrived.

    Whatever can be done to humanize and bolster the instrumentation, Eric, would be welcome. The arrangement's fun, but the drum writing's too simplistic and there's a clear quality disparity between the arrangement and the production due to all of the thin & exposed samples.

    NO (resubmit)

    *NO* Terranigma "Departing for the Unknown"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    The time signature change throws me off, but the source usage is there from the melody coming in at 1:01 with only some brief breaks, then used as an anchor undearth most of the noodling at the end, so it's there.

    Opens with an EDM groove with a good gradual build; bit of a generic sound, but nice phasing line at :07, and more transition SFX at :15 with twinking stuff afterward and a sustained synth line until :40, brought back at :45. All good building blocks to lead to the melody at 1:01.

    Melody comes in at 1:01 with some pretty generic synths, and there's not enough difference in the tone of the one handling the melody vs. the ornamentation. They're not pleaseantly mixed either. Notionally, I can hear how the interplay's supposed to work, but it's not fully clicking because of how the lines are mixed; maybe some selective EQing would help them compliment one another rather than compete.

    At 1:31, the energy initially feels great, and the bassline thumps before things get messy with the textures again. It was brief, but I liked the percussion thrown into the background at 1:30 (first used at :06), but the soundscape is so washed out though that that percussion part barely registers at all, so when it's used more, it all just gets swallowed up in mud until 1:46. It might even still be going on later, but instead of contributing its unique sound to the texture, it's steamrolled. Even the bassline, which I can hear throughout, is obscured more than it needs to be.

    Kick beat brought in at 1:47 sounded flimsy. The leads continue bleeding/mudding with the ornamentation from 1:47-on (but particularly 2:10-2:25); there's too much mud from 1:58-on, getting even more swamped at 2:10, it all sounds too loud and too busy, and it's difficult to orient until the other line is reintroduced at 2:26.

    The sound design does have strong moments, for example, the transition at 2:24 was very, very cool; great drum writing for a smooth transition into the new pattern, very cool and bold sweeping SFX, and the bassline comes through way more (until the scoundscape fills back up around 2:41 and it's then lost).

    From 2:56 until the end, the lead writing sounds like it's noodling with no clear direction; it's not melodious or pleasant, unfortunately, it's just unfocused. I do hear the source tune adapted quitely underneath, but it's definitely not guiding the way melodically, so you'll have to figure out how you want to refocus this. Maybe you stay more grounded with the source melody taking the lead again, though it certainly doesn't have to be that.

    I definitely like having this flush with swirling pads, delays, and lush effects, so you don't have to aggressively go the other way and dry it out, but this does need some mud traded for clarity.

    The noodling's gotta be rewritten to be melodious or least given more of direction with proper resolution, and the soundscape has to be tamed and rebalanced so that parts occupy the proper space. Looking forward to some more production-minded suggestions on how to tighten this up, but loads of positives and potential here, Austin, and a solid base!

    NO (resubmit)

    OCR04587 - *YES* Chicory "Dear Wielder..."

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Hell of a source tune, Navi; this is probably my favorite Lena Raine compositionthat I've now heard. I love it and would love to hear it live in concert. :-) This definitely could have been direct posted for sure, as it's referencing the source practically all the time either with the melody or supporting writing.

    Nice job giving this theme an otherworldly sound for quite a cool transformation.

    The geetars by Ryan first brought in at :30 were silky smoove while also effected. Holy shit, what a groove too, with vocal beats stacked on top of the kicks.

    At 1:28, everything dropped off, left with a lone pan flute-type thing with effects, then rebuilt with other lines gradually fading in. Then fuckin' warbles at 2:02, man, what??? Hahaha, I'm just loving this ride!

    It feels like this track's a living, breathing organism. :-) I have no idea what lead to the sound design choices here, or what to call this genre, but it's super-creative and on point; you literally want to swim in this. At any point, this could have went super bombastic and it WOULD have made sense, yet Navi exercised restraint instead. Wow, awesome stuff, and a hell of a return here, in a remarkable collab with Ryan and Klopfenpop.

    Never be ashamed, stay proud of your old gold too; look at where it's lead you, with a track in the here and now that you can sincerely point to as legendary. May you continue to grow musically and feel creatively satisfied yet thirsty to explore. I genuinely cannot wait to hear what else you've got cookin', and I'm just extremely proud of you. This is pro work. :-)

    YES

    OCR04463 - *YES* Bio-Hazard Battle "Pathogen Zero"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    I was definitely unsure of employing the same sounds and timbre of the "Title" theme to start, but then heard how the "Stage 1" theme was adapted into that soundset, so I then understood the approach more and didn't have any interpretation concerns.

    At 1:08, some synths creeped in and got louder to reveal almost a Streets of Rage Remake-type feel. If it weren't for the slower tempo, I'd think this was SoR material.

    1:59 added more writing into the background to escalate things; crowded but effective overall, then a pretty omimous dropoff of the saws at 2:23, followed by a downright scary rise in volume of the noise peaking at 2:48. The music ended at 3:00 and things capped off with an SFX-based finish.

    From a personal standpoint, I don't love the sound palette, but I damn sure respect and fear it. :-D Aggressive and intense, nice job, Parker!

    YES

    *NO* Star Fox "Corneria"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    Track's only 1:45-long (aside from the stingers at the start and finish, which make great loop points when the track's put on repeat), so there's almost no way this could pass from a development standpoint; you need some more time here to flesh out the ideas.

    Sounds ultra-dry and empty as far as the sounds, but I love the energy of the writing. The orch stabs, geetar synths, thick beats, and various SFX are sounding good. I liked the subtle doubling of the melody from :47-1:00

    Watch the core beat at :13; this pattern is super plodding and boring, . Literally copying this advice from another track wth the same issue: You've gotta keep in mind that no matter what other percussion is going on in your textures, if there's one element that's way louder and it's also super metronome-y (i.e. that kick), then the whole thing sounds thin, empty, and droning. The perc writing ultimately comes off lonely and barren there.

    The comping-style lead writing from 1:11-1:36 over the top of the source is completely the kind of creative original additive writing that meaningfully personalizes an interpretive arrangement, so that's well in the right direction.

    Aside from the beats being too loud with basic writing that caused a plodding feel, structurally, Michael, you have a solid arrangement concept. It's got a swift tempo and reasonable dynamic constrast throughout (again, undermined by the beats). It's really too bad that it's so short and that the instrumentation and production aren't dense enough, because these raw materials are fun. 1:01-1:10 was arguably the only brief moment where this soundscape felt adequately filled; you'll have to bring that level of density to other areas of the track.

    If you can build this composition/arrangement out further (about another 30-60 seconds somehow, without just doing cut-and-paste stuff) and employ effects to give your soundscape a fuller feel, you'd be flying high. ;-)

    NO (resubmit)

    *NO* Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask "End of the World"

    in Judges Decisions

    Posted

    On 1/24/2023 at 10:35 AM, prophetik music said:

    i would argue that LT's quoting of the standards around arrangement are what sinks this, not passes it. there is a lot of repetition here in the backing parts. there's little variation from the initial instrumentation, dynamics, tempo, vibe, and direction of the work throughout the entire 2:30 duration.

    Is that what happened?? Because it doesn't look like that's what happened. :-D

    I'm sincerely kidding around, I'm just trolling for more opinions. These judges... stinky slow.

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