Seraph

Wow. This is a fantastic heavy remake of one of my favorite songs in all of videogame history. I like that it is hard rock/metal in an unusual way. It doesn't sound like anything you'd commonly hear. I was a little nervous during the intro, but the performance really shines and cleans up a lot when the drums kick in. I'm sure I'll be listening to this a lot, and I think I've got a new Remixer to add to my list of favorites.

I can't describe how excited I am that this is coming back and will be basically unchanged from the end user's perspective. You guys know how to treat us friends and fans, that's for sure! Re-upped my previous pledge and will kick in a little more when I can be sure I'll have the funds closer to the deadline.

Curious about the status of the project. I'm assuming no news. I'm hoping kickstarter isn't giving them too many problems.

When I first saw this in my email, I had to click through the link to see the image, and I was really hoping it was the Fry "Shut up and take my money" macro. And yes, it definitely sums up my stance on this topic. You guys keep on doing whatever it takes to keep the site awesome and keep the projects rolling, and I'll keep throwing my money at the screen until you guys get what you need.

In previous instances where I'd seen that, basically they force you to allow ads to be displayed, and the original artist receives the ad revenue for that particular video as a means of recuperating licensing/royalty fees. Some groups (like WMG) will just take the video down until you replace the audio.

The last solid milestone I saw it hit was just over $75k

Great news to hear! I'm very excited and hope the project has as much (or more) success this time around as it had last time! I'm looking forward to the album and hope we can still get some of the perks. Great work OCR team, we knew you'd be able to pull it off!

I greatly appreciate all the feedback thus far. It sounds like my best bet is to work up my piano chops and just do a full recording of it. In the meantime, I'll continue working on my tracking to take these critiques into account. A lot of the things mentioned I think will fix things I wasn't happy with, but couldn't really put my finger on what was wrong with it. Many thanks!

wow. This has quickly become a new favorite of mine. Two of the greatest themes (in my mind at least) together in a cohesive piece that sounds like they belong together. I would like to hear a little bit more of Liberi Fatali shining through in the mix, but that's just me nit picking. Fantastic song!

It's a good start, and I like it, but if you're planning on submitting it to OCRemix, you'll want to definitely add some variation and your own touch to it. This has always been one of my favorite songs, and you're definitely doing it justice so far! Also, holy crap KH is 10 years old?

Oh, right. I completely forgot about that. My mistake!

As far as I was aware though, none of the funds would be going towards supporting the site, just the products in the project itself. I may be wrong in that assumption, and I would certainly not object to my donation supporting the site. Also, I'd LOVE to be a fly on the wall in the conversations/negotiations with S/E on this topic.

I should clarify that I'm not really outraged at the idea of Square-Enix protecting what's theirs, it was mostly just a gut reaction I had to a great project getting shut down (at least temporarily). My original post came across as feeling entitled and, as zegota pointed out in his above-quoted message, uninformed. I had no idea that album had been released, and I obviously failed on my fact-finding mission before making that post. That said, I stand behind the main point I was trying to make in the post; as long as the project is allowed to continue with the bonuses, I'll gladly raise my pledge to cover the additional costs.

I, for one, would gladly raise my pledge to match whatever Square-Enix wanted to drop on the project for royalties/licensing fees. If that means $100 to get the $50 reward, so be it. I've never been so excited about the prospect of buying a CD, and I don't care about cost at this point, I just want it. Square-Enix is definitely not doing themselves any favors with this. Are they planning on re-releasing the soundtrack and are afraid this is going to impact sales? Or maybe they just see an opportunity to make a few bucks off a property that hasn't released anything music-related in over 4 years.

This arrangement is very heavily based on the orchestral version of the song. The recording I linked is also entirely tracked, as I don't have access to a piano or full-size keyboard for recording. I made this arrangement back in 2004-2005, and have gradually tweaked it over the years. I'm glad you like the arrangement, as that's the important thing for me. Sound quality and mixing are my weaknesses, and I've been working on that some lately. I'm hoping soon that I'll be able to work up a true recording, which should help with the dynamics.

This is a mostly finished song, but my mixing/mastering skills are basically non-existent, so I'm always open to suggestions. Anyway, I wanted to get some feedback on the song overall: http://soundcloud.com/seraphiansounds/hikari

Thanks again for the critique, I'm still tweaking a little here and there. The ONLY thing I did with any of the guitars was I dropped a large portion of the Rhythm guitar out entirely, I think it cleaned everything up a bit. I still strongly dislike the ending, I think I'm going to nix the triplets and do something simpler. I'll post again when I update... maybe with some real guitar this time, if I can get the effects right... I don't have much to work with, but a friend of mine has a copy of Amplitube I might just have to borrow and play with.

I think the ending was a touch abrupt, but that was amazing and I don't typically enjoy techno music. Wow man, kudos to you. Also, loved the vocals, and you've got a great voice for that kind of thing.

Thanks for the critique, it's really helped me look at this a bit more objectively and I'm noticing some of the things I missed before. I'm not sure what to do about the drums, as that's going to have to be programmed because I don't have a set, but I'll work something out eventually. I think I'll be fooling around with a solo for that though, it sounds interesting. Also the walking bassline sounds like it'd really help vary the repeated parts, so I'll mess with that too. I'm still debating about a short guitar solo, or some lead work, but I doubt it'll make the final cut because of some sub-par lead skills on my part. Who knows though, maybe I'll surprise myself. Update: Here's what I have now, still no live instruments, but more of a creative update. I kinda fixed the chop a bit, but it's still present. The big deal here is the completly re-written bassline. I really tryed to fancy it up and make it interesting. I also threw a little drum break in the middle and slapped an ending on, though the more I listen to the ending, the less I like it. http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171996076/Chemical%2BPlant%2Bv2%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3

So this is the first thing I'm going to work on and try submitting, but it definately needs something more. I'm thinking of Possibly dropping the tempo to 110ish instead of 133, where it is in this recording. Also, final submission will likely be live instruments instead of this Guitar Pro 5 recording. I'm looking for any and all suggestions/critiques on this. Don't hold back. Enjoy! http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171457584/Chemical%2BPlant%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3 >>Here's a link to the slower rendition... http://freedownloads.last.fm/download/171530591/Chemical%2BPlant%2BLow%2BTempo%2B%2528Work%2Bin%2BProgress%2529.mp3