derako

Wow, Laura, I haven't heard from you in years! Thank you so much for taking the time to comment on our work. I hope life is treating you well!! -Derek-

I started arranging Final Fantasy music back in 1994 when I was 14. I used MIDI Orchestrator Plus which came with my Creative AWE32 sound card with an awesome 8MB soundbank. -Derek-

Hey Dio, Just wanted to say how much I enjoy this piece, it's part of my daily work commute music I hope that one day you would be willing to play violin or piano on one of my pieces. Cheers, -Derek-

I think you meant physical copies right?

I think that everyone that contributed to this project has similar memories and nostalgia from this game. You're among friends -Derek-

Pu_freak, Thank you for the in depth review of Trauermarsch. I dont really understand what you mean when you say the mix doesn't sound clear. Make sure you download the FLAC, maybe that will help. Thanks again.

a little nugget for all you Queen fans out there lol These guys are baller

I agree with you. I think Snappleman was refering to the delays surrounding the project. (I think) Thats why I spoke to the volunteer effort. Even though there were delays I think it was a good idea to release a more complete project rather than release something unfinished. That being said there were people upset by the delays thats all I was saying. You're right though, having everyone wait until August would have been unacceptable for the digital release.

I understand Zircons point and it has merit, Snapple also has a point. From a marketing and PR standpoint deadlines and hype are very important to the success of any project. In Zircons defense however, even though many people donated a lot of money to this, they also knew right away that the deadlines weren't set in stone because it was an all volunteer effort. You can't force people to work on something that they don't get paid for. SO both points have merit, I think if anything going forward, like Snapple said, it's a learning experience for the next round. I'm just happy it's released so that people can finally hear the music. All things being considered, I think this is a huge success for the community and that's the most important part IMO. -Derek

I totally agree with you, I've listened to this song pretty much everyday since the preview disk came out. VERY catchy.

On a side note, I'm really surprised at the lack of comments on this review thread. The Final Fantasy VII thread had 18 pages in the first day. Do people just not care about FFVI anymore? Just on observation.

Bad Octopus is bad ass, awesome tune, very well executed. Adding Joe on the clarinet and sax was an awesome touch.

from :25 until about the 1 minute mark, goosebumps the whole time. Very beautiful piece, It's now on my IPOD. Fantastic job Forrest and Laura! -Derek-

I'm glad you enjoyed it. It's true that it's a beast and it took a while to get done. Sometimes when you work on something for a long period of time you don't know if you're on the right track at certain periods throughout the production process. Anyways thanks again. -Derek

Very impressive use of samples. Good job!

Iron Man PC port. The worst game ever! The PS3 or the Xbox 360 version was the only tolerable one according to reviews.

Sure thing, sorry for the confusion. Take care and good luck to you. -Derek

I didn't know you had a soundclick site. Visit mine as well: www.soundclick.com/orenproductions It sounds from your work that instrument runs and transitions are the most challenging. Which they are in sampling... Invest in Hollywood Brass Diamond and Hollywood Strings Diamond.. I had to fork out some bucks for the libraries and the hardware to run them. But it was definitely worth it for the results I got. If you want to listen to some stuff let me know and I'll send you the links privately. -Derek

[savingPrincess;906978]. Trying to decide between Berlin WW and EWQL HOW at the moment. Thats a hard decision. I have Hollywood Brass and Strings. I listened to HOW and I was impressed to a point but I still think that Vienna Instruments have the upper edge. You should look into those (they're more expensive but you can get them individually which I like) Yes I would be interested to hear more of your work. -Derek

Hello Ryan, I like the sample quality in most of your instruments, very nice. Although if your sample banks have round robin samples, please use them. Heard in a couple areas "machine gun effect" in some of the woodwinds. To be accepted by OCR however, I believe that there has to be more deviation from the actual tracks. Tweaking several notes here and there isn't really enough to be qualified as a "remix" musical style deviation is important. I enjoyed the little swing method you did at 7:20. When I listen to this I feel as though there needs to be more going on. More counterpoint, different melodies. Perhaps in the "gaps" between songs there can be a little original melody or counter melody. Try to draw your inspiration from different composers and different pieces of music. I felt as though, for the most part, I was listening to the original soundtrack with better instruments. Since you wanted feedback I'm being critical, I think you have potential. Your samples are good and you seem to have the ambition for detailed work. Good luck with this piece! -Derek-

I think the arrangement is good. The orchestration needs work though. I give credit to the producer, he made a below average violin sound about average which is hard in sequencing. Even though you can tell it's not "real" I still like it. Not bad -Derek

Both of my pieces are done as well. I hope this happens soon, probably another month though.

Wow this is a long time to wait for an answer Well if you didn't know already this piece of music is being featured in the FFVI Tribute album "Balance and Ruin" So next month when it's released, we'll all finally be able to hear it Trauermarsch has been finished since August though. So I'm excited for everyone to hear it. -Derek-

Yeah I can understand the excitement, as a remixer on the project I can tell you it'll be worth the wait. This project will have something for everyone. I hope it gets released soon too but most likely mid to late Feb. to be realistic. -Derek