Palpable

I love the darkness of this arrangement. It has the feel of a funeral procession - a big shift from the original, which was a lot more light and spacey. Very original interpretation. For the most part, the production is also excellent, everything balanced well, but that lead woodwind sort of bugs me. It has a honky, wavering quality to the attack and when it first came in, it was jarring. The playing on it sounds a lot more mechanical than the other instruments too. There's a part around 2:45 where it starts playing the same exact note twice right on the beat and it becomes obvious I'm listening to something sequenced. Some slight changes in rhythm and velocity would humanize it. Ultimately it's a minor gripe, and I'm happy to say YES to this one. The muffled-ness that other J's mentioned didn't bother me, and the repetition was noticeable but didn't spoil my enjoyment - there's enough going on in this moving track.

Thanks everyone! Well, someone knows the shortcut to getting their mixes through the panel. Yep, yep, guilty as charged. I did take a break from OCR for a while, but since this summer, I've been around here and there. And you'll definitely see me more often now. Also, a bit late obviously, but it's cool for you to use the song.

Some very neat programming going on here, and the beginning reminds me of Max Tundra, one of my favorite artists. You're pushing the right buttons for me. I like how much wilder it gets as it goes on, and I was impressed how interesting it is to listen to even though sometimes you're just riffing on a couple notes! The drums are light and airy, but I would have liked to hear them a little higher in the mix - when the lead comes back in at 2:30, they get drowned out. The song could use more of a driving rhythm too and the boost would help that. I'd also like everything to be a touch brighter. It doesn't grab my attention enough and boosting some of those highs would help. But like everyone else has mentioned, the connection to the source material seems really tenuous - the arrangement is just too liberal. It's obviously tricky to work with something that's only a few notes to begin with, but I barely hear anything even approaching it here - I think the best I can say is that I kind of hear a similar instrument buried deep in your intro. To be honest, I have some doubts you could work the original in enough that I'd yes it, because it would involve scaling back some of the improvisation, but if you're willing to resubmit, I'm willing to give it another listen. I'm definitely saving this song to my hard drive anyway. NO

Absolutely sick song. I only got to listen to it just now on crappy speakers and it still sounded amazing. Very different sections that all flow together smoothly - I didn't have any problem with the transitions. I can't wait until I get home and I can listen to this on a proper system.

Gorgeous. How you manage to make a song sound so full and light simultaneously is beyond me. Really excellent song.

Yep! And I remember you too. I really wish my trip didn't coincide with MAGfest so I could see you and everyone else again, especially since it's so dang close to my house.

I was able to carry a guitar on a plane with me earlier this year, though I think it's ultimately the airline's and/or airport's decision. Plan on having to check it in. Oh, and I've heard it's good to detune it a lot so that the pressure difference on the plane doesn't pop your strings. I won't be able to attend Magfest, sadly, as I will be abroad. Perhaps next year.

I listened through the soundtrack yesterday because I loved the game but couldn't remember the music, and I'm trying to pick a song for my next remix. Man. It's really silly and totally its own thing - I can see why no one has tried to do it. I think it suits the game well, but I won't be touching it either. I would love to see someone do something else from this soundtrack, especially Freezeezy Peak.

This just came up on the roulette and I couldn't recall having heard it before. It made me very happy. I must have somehow missed out on it the first time around, and I think it might be my new favorite song of yours, DJP. I hear a lot of shades of Erasure in it and I kept waiting for Andy Bell to come in. The pieces just gel together sublimely, and even without hearing the original, I loved it.

I was so bummed there weren't any shows near DC. I almost thought about driving up to NY for a day to see them (and the Rapture). Hope you all that managed to see them had fun. I too saw that video Zircon posted a while ago and it was a little sad but not that surprising. All their songs sound like samples - somewhere in my mind, I knew they were ripping off old songs wholesale, but I had never heard those songs before then. Ultimately, I decided it didn't matter. To me, what their strength is, is knowing just how far to push a sample before it becomes too much. They use enough change-ups to keep it interesting and some of their beats I could listen to for hours.

I'm a little embarrassed to admit I haven't played the game (or FFVIII), but the music here absolutely transcends the need to have heard these songs before. Stunning work, y'all. For some reason, the Rare Square comments thread isn't working, so I'll mention here that it's my favorite song of the ones I've heard so far.

I think you just sold me on this album, and I was already considering getting it cause of how much I like your stuff on the site. This description fits Way Out West, one of my favorite acts, to a T. Their albums reward attention but permit inattention.

I loved this show when it was on, and was very annoyed by its cancellation - I think it was one of the few shows that was truly at its peak when it ended. During the first season, they were still finding their voice, but the entire second season was just excellent TV. Very sad. While I like the idea of a movie, I can't really imagine it without Mandy Patinkin. You can get rid of any characters besides him or George and it would still work.

I'm not going to be attending, but my girlfriend, who some of you met at djp's a few weeks ago, is. So if you see someone dressed as Urd (hah, like there will be only one of them), say hello!

For the most part, I try to choose different instruments than the original song, but I also sort of know what I want something to sound like in my head, so I'm trying to match that instead of the original instrument. Same principle, really. I think some of matching is trial and error, and often settling for something not quite what you imagined, but that works. But for the most part, it's a quick process to match an instrument. I know where to start looking for a specific sound and it doesn't take me that long to find the right thing. Sometimes I'll have used a similar sound in a previous song and it's just a matter of looking it up. It gets easier the more you do it (like anything). As for copying from a MIDI, I like having the MIDI around as a reference, for songs with weird chords or quick melodies. I'm pretty bad at getting the notes exactly right otherwise, if I'm trying to get them right.

It's tough having a real word for a name, even if it's an uncommon one. At least my website is the third hit on Google now - used to be on like the fifth page of results. The name comes from a line from an Asterix book, which I found out later was originally from Hamlet. When I picked it, I had no idea what I meant. I just liked the shape of the word.

I almost asked this exact question today, then thought to search for it. Who knew someone had already asked. I typically start with a simple 8-bar pattern in a style I have in mind and pick instruments for it that work well together. Then I find a VG song I like that could work with that groove. It seems a little unromantic to do it that way, but I can't control my inspirations. (Though with one of my songs for this site the style and song came to me simultaneously - yeahhh.) A lot of major rewriting can go into it along the way, including messing with my initial pattern, but the beginning is the same basically every time.

I'm not familiar with the source tune, but this was still a really nice piece. The transition at 1:30 really opens up the song, as all these exciting little bits of percussion fly in and the guitar soon afterward - as I was listening to the song the first time, I was like "this could use a really cool transition", and there it was! I feel like it winds down too soon afterward, but you certainly left me wanting more.

How did you save the day? I saw a gaggle of cops on Saturday night, and a few on the way home from Burke Lake. They're desperately trying to fill those quotas, I guess.

The concert and meetup were awesome, I'm so glad I snagged a last-minute ticket and got to meet you all. The pic of everyone doing Objection is priceless - those girls were something. I hope to see the rest of the pictures soon. Also, I still owe someone for the ticket, so if you're out $40, let me know and I'll figure out a way to send the cash.

Whoa, I knew DJP lived in the Northern VA area but I didn't realize he lived in Fairfax itself. He's my neighbor! Er, how do I get directions to his place? Should I be PMing someone?

Although I won't be attending the concert, I'd love to meet up with you all after the concert or on Saturday, since I live in the area anyway. I might drag my girlfriend along too. I'll watch this thread to see where you all decide to meet after the concert. I look forward to meeting you all!