Dj Mokram

In the meantime, the following tracks are still open: .Contact me via PM if you want to claim a track.

We take the same source and we start over! You've taken an important turn in your composition at this point, with a huge improvement in production. This version is much more aggressive and sinister than the previous iteration. The song starts up slowly, establishing an atmosphere filled with adventure and mystery. The transition to the main part at 0:24 is coming in too abruptly imo. It isn't introduced by anything, yet didn't felt as surprising as it should have. May I suggest either letting the strings in suspension for one second, or fake fade them before transitioning to the main part. Really dug the part from 0:41. Sounds fierce and dynamic, and while drums created a bit of a repetition, has an epic battle feel to it. After this second part fading, you could eventually go a more intimist road. Starting with minimal soundscape, and building the song back up, adding melodic material progressively to end up on a climatic finale. I feel that's what this arrangement is calling for right now. Finally, I'll make the same comment on your drums that I made on Total Disaster: a bit dry and prominent. But that's my personal bias. The potential is here. Keep it up!

You've really reached new highs with this song. I can tell you had a lot of fun with the new samples and let your creativity speak out loud. I dig the very dark tone of this piece, leading to a peculiar auditive experience. The lead seems to be less prominent in some parts, blending with the rythm guitars like a mass of sound depicting pain and destruction, thus totally fitting the title. The break at 2:41 is very appropriate, for it brings a touch of simplicity and emotion that counterbalance the rage of the track. It's like an isle of peace lost in the eye of a cyclone. The drums however, while sounding substancially better than usual and imo nicely sequenced, are attracting much attention on them, by sounding dry at times. I assume they are supposed to be the star of the show somehow, so they'll need a little more work on the sound and maybe some minor variations too. Nothing else to report from my point of view. You clearly know what you're doing with the mixing. You're on the road to Awesome!

Hey BGC, what this event needs to really kick off, is more of the legendary Another Salmon joke! ;D I'll go around to contribute a donation in a few days. In the meantime, support banner is in my sig, as per usual sir.

Looks like I had missed this last update... Well, sounds like you fixed pretty much everything that needed fixing. Though for the intro solo, I think matching the later one maybe wasn't the best thing to do. The previous solo was fitting the piece just fine really. It simply had some minor dissonance issues on some notes. But you can indeed consider this piece finished, as I totally understand your will to move toward something else now. I had this song in my head for a few days, and I guess it'll stay stuck here for a few more.

Two interviews of my favorite composer, Hitoshi Sakimoto, and his work on FFXII. First from 1up: Notice his minions working diligently in the background... and of course the hardware. Second is from the bonus dvd contained in the collector edition of the game: Very interesting and detailed info on his workflow, and the differences between composing for movies and composing for video game. Enjoy.

And more importantly, when are the Grand Maverick and GrandNavi Battles gonna begin?

Support is a crucial part of the process: if no one was interested, there would be no point making this in the first place. So, glad you're still following this. We'll make sure to be at least as cool as Headdy himself... well, we'll try!

Hate to be the downer, but it would take a magic act to have 6 elaborated songs from any of these genres fit on 6mb and still sound half decent. Maybe people aren't sending you what they think is video game music, but what they think can fit on less than 1mb limit. i.e. MIDI files. You'll be better off with one excellent 6mb song that loops forever, like in Canabalt, than trying to have a diverse music catalog with such technical constraints. Good luck anyway.

Congrats on the release! Abbadon is a diverse album made of eclectic and evocatives compositions. Each song is telling its own story while still remaining part of the whole picture, like the pieces of a puzzle. Sometimes it's peaceful, sometimes it's fierce, mixing melancholy with joy, creating a peculiar experience. I wholeheartedly encourage people to give it a listen, as there really is something unique for everyone to hear.

Thanks a lot for the support good sirs! I'm not sure how long I can keep the glory from stealing my mixers, but I'l do my best. Thanks for the kind words and the offer. I'll make sure to let you know. As long as you don't run off to Cancun, get drunk celebrating the release of EoL, devote all your time to party girls, and totally forget about this, it should be ok. Yeah, NintenJoe64 is the man! Everyone on board should follow your exemple and finish their mixes. And I sure hope we get people to start those last few tracks, at least.

Sounds interesting. Definitely some Uematsu references in here. The song is slow paced and the approach fitting. While some instruments may not be top notch, the general direction sounds promising. This is still rough and soundscape is pretty empty atm. You definitely need to experiment with the melodic material and add some harmonies here and there too. You have a mean dissonance at 1:19 with the brass. Also, try adding some dry percussions and cymbals to add fullness to the sound. In the last part from 1:46, where the melody played by the brass is reminiscent of FF7 bombing mission, your militaristic percussions are too exposed. Seems like you're hesitating between an eloquent, slow paced composition, and a more dramatic, tense one. Try to find the right balance between both as you proceed further.

Since it's mostly a 'cosmetic' update, I'll focus on small subsiding problems. Part from 0:25 = discreet guitars can give the illusion to blend in more effectively. But dissonance subsists in a few instances with some notes (0:33 0:35 0:37). You have another small dissonance on one note at 2:32. Can be fixed quickly. I'm unsure as if you've enhanced the drumroll at 3:03. May I suggest you make it start half a measure earlier, with two sparse kick-hits on the 3:02 mark? Did you change something on the guitar part from 1:45? Somehow it sounds more pleasant to the ear now. I'm still advocating the implementation of reverse cymbals to help transition from loud and full parts to more quiet moments, where the sounscape is thiner. Namely on these marks: 1:59~2:00 - 2:47~2:48 - 4:07~4:08. Other than that, sounds pretty great IMO. The song flows quite well as is, so forget my comment on adding another break. A few minor tweaks here and there, and this one should be completed.

I kind of remember the bad relationship between Nintendo and Square that resulted into that game being made for Sony's PSX instead. It took quite a while (nearly 10 years) before the situation settled down (with Crystal Chronicle on Gamecube in 2003). Nowadays, Squeenix is developping quite a few game for Nintendo, and even though the FFVII licence is the property of Sony, I'm not sure it would be clever for them to pour oil on the fire once again with the original game. That being said, FFVII fans demands have been more than answered already. Advent Children, Advent Children Complete, Dirge of Cerberus, Dirge of Cerberus Lost Episode, Before Crisis, Crisis Core, the anime Last Mission. And that doesn't include the goodies (keychains, rings, earings, figurines), the soundtracks, the PSP packs, etc.etc. They've made quite a lot of money out of one episode... well, they had no choice after The Spirits Within fiasco. But my guess is they intend to do the same with the FFXIII universe as they did with the seventh chapter. Except this time, they won't have to wait years before realising what their fanbase want. Probably because FFXIII wasn't directed strictly at previous FF fans, but aimed to a broader audience in order to create a new fanbase. And so after FFXIII, there'll be Versus XIII, Agito XIII, and so on... Fabula Nova Crystalis, the modern equivalent to the Compilation of FFVII. Some might see behind the childhood memories and realize now that this isn't just a game anymore. It's a software upgrade which is part of a business plan. And with that in mind, try to picture Microsoft doing a remake of Windows 98. No matter how much people loved it (or hated it) back then, that's highly improbable.

UN-BE-LIE-VABLE! Running a project like that from scratch, while gathering so much support, all in such a short notice is highly commendable. I'm not sure how other people will feel about the whole 'fasttrack' thing though, but you definitely pulled off quite a number on this one. You strike me as a man who needs a co-director. Good thing you already got plenty of people qualified for the job onboard! Good luck guys. And, HURRY UP!

The intro is refreshing, and the harp that comes in from 0:07 makes it even better. Actually, that part reminds me a lot of Okami for some reason. The guitar from 0:25 co-habit strangely with the piano. Instruments seems to be stepping on each onther toes here. Can't pinpoint exactly if it comes from dissonant harmonies, chorus or dissident tone. Nice variation at 2:00, short but eloquent. Like how it slowly comes back to the main melody afterward. Part from 4:08 with the galloping percussions, I dig the progressive come back of the instruments and melodic material. 4:40 to the end is the high point of the song. Galloping percus mixing with regular drums, meanwhile the full soundscape is growing and the song is really coming to life. I'm gonna go and say that the galloping thing may be a reference to cowboys on their horses disappearing on the horizon with the sunset, thus Final Sunset? My only real gripe here, is that while the song flows nicely, the transitions between parts are a bit rough somehow. Imho, they would benefit from some reverse crash or subtle riff/mellow introduction. Also, the song could use a real break, slower with a more subtle atmosphere comprised of fewer instruments and softer guitar riffs. This one is quite different from some of your previous work. I enjoyed the calmness of the song, with its purely melodic parts, and its peaceful moments. Overall clean production, and your performance, while having its regular fierceness toned down due to the genre/pace, was still sharp as usual. A fitting piece to wrap up, say ...an album for exemple.

That's entirely up to you guys!

Now we're in serious business for some Songs of Night and Madness! ;D See ya crazy coordinator on may 8th 2010, for the aforementioned track update.

Thanks for the help Joe. This has been added to the project's ressources. Also, updated first post with additional info.

True. However, that didn't stop Hamauzu from scoring games with it either. But, yeah, even some big name libraries have some rather cheap sounding instruments that anyone would be pissed off having paid one thousand quid for.

Not even Metal Gear was spared by this plague.

UPDATE v8: check it on the first post! -Additional tweaking and tuning on the beginning and on the ending. -More bass presence and occurrences throughout the song, and also volume raise. -Complete overhaul of the middle part: dropped the guitars entirely, added some new instruments & segments, changed the drums. -Extended the track from 4:14 to to 5:36. Longest VG arrangement I've ever done... It's been almost a year since I've started working on this, and I feel like I've learned quite a bit during that time. A little more effort and I should be able to complete this ReMix soon. Feedback, as usual, is most welcome.

You guys own the friggin podcast factory or something?! Need a week off to keep up the pace. Stay sharp out there.

This is most excellent. Favorite track of mine from X3. Even though it's generally accepted that the snes had better audio, this litteraly makes the original track sound like (sea)horse shit. In the right hands, that Yamaha synth could do some damage in its time. Heck, we're twenty years later and it still does! Great work.