Emunator

Lolwut? This is really strange, I don't quite know what to make of it. The machine gun drums are a really weird stylistic choice that doesn't make any sense to me. The instruments definitely have that old-school OCR feel to it. Nevertheless, this was a pretty daring arrangement and for the most part, it worked. The synth soloing in particular was pretty good, especially for such an early remix.

Reminds me of a dungeon exploration scene in an RPG just before a big boss fight. Personally, I like the very dramatic, deliberate percussion you've got going on, but I don't like the synth that came in during the first part of the song. I've heard synth pulled off well in an orchestral arrangement before, but it kind of sticks out like a sore thumb here, in my opinion. And yeah, a climax would have been excellent here; what you've got feels like about half of a (quite excellent) song that didn't quite get enough time in the incubator. It's clear that you're a competent remixer though, I look forward to hearing more from you in the future!

The sound choices really caught my attention. Mazedude has certain mastered the industrial genre and knows how to pick instruments and samples that create that haunting, mechanical atmosphere. For a haunting, dark, atmospheric track, this can't really be beat, but overall the arrangement feels pretty repetitive and doesn't really go anywhere, but that's not really a huge issue with this genre. The mood is what counts and you totally nailed that aspect of the mix! As a side note, whatever the hell you've got going on at 2:09 reminded me of the sound effect in Luigi's Mansion where you suck the ghosts out of the vacuum at the end of each section of the game. Really cool

The ambient pads in the intro were interesting, albeit generic, and 3:20 sounded pretty cool. The rest of the song felt really flat and completely cookie-cutter. It's nice seeing how FFmusic Dj has been able to refine his craft over the years and create this same style of basic trance, but make it sound sooo much better in terms of production and arrangement.

Yeah, this one isn't really clicking with me. The opening synth really grated on my nerves, but I actually like the sound of the synth that you ran with for most of the song Some of the sound effects later in the song gave it a bit of variety but I can't really recommend this because it basically loops the same style/notes over and over. This would have served as a great introduction to a more fleshed-out electronic remix, but it doesn't really stand on its own.

Now this is just fun! That's OA for ya, though I'm always impressed with how skillfully you can mix different types of guitars, piano and other orchestral elements, and synth together to form such a cohesive musical package. The acoustic guitar (I'm pretty sure that's what I'm hearing, anyway) sounded really fake, even though I'd venture a guess that it was performed live, since this is a DoD track. That's kind of weird, but it's such a minor element in the overall picture that it's hardly worth mentioning.

Well, it should go without saying that I like this a lot Your guitar playing is exquisite and the tone is unbeatable when it comes to acoustic guitars. However, like some of your other mixes I have a hard time picking out the source tune except for a few parts. Nevertheless, it's only once in a blue moon such an emotive, personal mix comes around, so I'm really glad you contributed this to the project. Wonderful work! Also, your production has definitely shot up a notch since your FFVII songs! With such a bare-bones style as this, a high quality recording quality is absolutely a must.

Dhsu and Anthony's styles really mesh well together in this song. It's a pretty straightforward duet, with the emphasis on "pretty!" This song really is beautifully played, and since I'm actually a fan of the smooth jazz genre to start with, this ended up being one of my favorites from Summoning of Spirits.

AeroZ, you are a master of taking your songs to new levels of creativity while still keeping them accessible and not too weird. It satisfies my craving for unique, unconventional blends of musical styles, but I've also passed this song around to a few friends that have more mainstream, traditional tastes and they've loved it, too. That's quite a testament to your musical vision and ability

Definitely what I've come to expect from VHD with the dry orchestral sound, but I think this takes it to another level, arrangement-wise. I don't really make it a secret that I've kind of gotten burned out when it comes to straight orchestral arrangements, so I'm not easily impressed when it comes to this genre. However, your unique style and dynamic arrangements really hit the spot for me. This is one of my favorite songs from the FF4 album, it's clear that you put a lot of effort into this song and it paid off in a big way!

The piano was definitely the highlight of this mix for me. It wasn't bad up until then, but that particular instrument gave the song a much-needed boost for me. Not my favorite from Prot, but this one's got its charms nonetheless

Bahahaha, I can't wait to hear Battle for the Badge in its entirety. That's gonna be so badass

Pretty mellow and low key, but as far as orchestral goes this isn't bad I love how this contrasts your other contribution to the album, they work so well together! I'm always amazed at what you do with free samples, that's really pretty inspirational for aspiring mixers like me that have no money whatsoever

By the way, the Aplus mirror leads to a broken link. I'm having the same problem with "Step into the Light" as well.

Oh, thanks! That's good to hear You mean this? http://www.ocremix.org/remix/OCR01796/

That's what it says on the VGMDB entry that Liontamer posted, anyway. Maybe that's just a placeholder.

Whaaat? It's not coming out until October 20th? Seriously? I'm so impatient. blah.

Nice soundscape - the drums give a lot of much-needed momentum to an otherwise-chill song. I really do love ambient songs with a fluid, moving drumline like the one you've got going here Your choice of lead wasn't the strongest point of the song, but I didn't find it particularly offensive either. It contributed to the mood that you'd established, so in that sense I think you were pretty successful. This song helps me relax, and I'd imagine that's exactly what you intended to do with this song, so good work!

Well, there's times when I get a bit annoyed with the constantly looping melody in the beginning and end of the song (maybe because it's panned so far to one ear) but for some reason there's something strangely enjoyable about it at the same time. I'm not really sure what I think about that, honestly Overall, though, I like the sounds you've used and your buildups and breakdowns are executed very tastefully. Good work, I'm glad this got posted! You don't see this kind of music getting posted as frequently these days, so it's a nice treat when a song like this makes it up on the front page

I always assumed it was a reference to this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kind_of_Blue

Hah, you should have kept it what it was at to make the release even more surprising for people who haven't read the whole thread

And conform to the social pressure to add vocals to their songs, too.

You can count me in on the IRC listening party, but I proooobably won't be flying out from Arizona to meet up over there. Unless there's some Mesa, AZ area OCR people that want to meet up somewhere and have a listening party, I'd be down with that

This is a trend I've noticed with a lot of diehard fans of a certain series - anything that deviates too much from the original source melody or genre is not usually well-received. I saw this happen a lot with Project Chaos, too. It's unfortunate, but in the end it's their own taste so there's not much point worrying about it :\

Wow, did another project track get leaked onto Dwelling of Duels... again? I've heard 5 full tracks released now and one almost-finished one... that's a sixth of the project. I'm really getting the feeling that, between all of the leaked tracks and the massive preview tracks that I'll have heard the whole project before it's even out