Hipnotyk

I'm going to give this a shot! Working on something for Big Blue. Edit: K, it's in!

Thanks for all of the criticism, I really appreciate it. Gave me a lot to think about and try to make this better. Regarding changing up the drum beat, I see exactly what you mean because I did utilize it fairly well in the section that starts around 2:15 (In the 128BPM version). I'll probably change the percussion around in the section before that and go for more of a "less is more" effect, as well as finding a way to make the melodic reprises more interesting. I'm glad that you like it despite the flaws, which I definitely intend to address. My initial goal with this venture into production (just started in July) was to have a track featured on OCR, and it's nice to know I'm within striking distance.

Hmm... I just opened up my project file and bumped it to 128 (had it at 120 originally). You're right, this is much better. My concern was that it'd sound too frantic because my version is a little more active than the original with the dynamic bass line, but this gets rid of that plodding feel. Uploading the faster version now for comparison. I'll edit my initial post when it's done being processed.

120 BPM - https://soundcloud.com/matt-s-harrison/esthar-hills-cop-man-with 128 BPM - https://soundcloud.com/matt-s-harrison/estharhillscop-128bpm Hello friends! This is actually the first of my creations that I feel like is realistically close to the standard of submissions to OCRemix, so I really want to make sure it delivers. This track has been one of my favorites for as long as I can remember. The original is great, the Black Mages remix is mind-blowing and the Distant Worlds orchestral rendition is superb. I wanted to take this track to another genre while simultaneously getting out of my comfort zone of "giving the original track some newer sounding samples," so here's the end result. It's my first EDM-influenced track and I had so much fun putting it together! It's gone through a few peer reviews to get to this point, but I am still very open to any sort of criticism to make it better. The name "Esthar Hills Cop" came when a friend pointed out that it sounds like something Harold Faltermeyer (writer of Axel F AKA the Beverly Hills Cop theme) would have written. I took the opening synth that usually cuts out after a few loops and made that my bass line throughout the majority of the track as opposed to the thumping quarter notes in the original. I spent hours running the bass through various effects until I finally said "screw it, let's try a vocoder" and strangely enough, it gave me exactly what I was looking for. Lesson learned - don't be afraid to try something unorthodox because you can always Ctrl-Z back to what you had, and you might stumble upon something awesome in the process. EDIT: 128 BPM version posted per recommendation of APZX. Original: https://www.youtube.com/embed/3jho-peCAKs

Xenogears is one of those all-time gems for RPG fans who delved out of the mainstream, and the music is some of Mitsuda's finest work. The name 'Ominous Waltz' is perfectly fitting, and this remix is outstanding. It's simultaneously soothing and creates a feeling of uncertainty just like the original but with a little more depth. Excellent work, SOuNDSNC. Looking forward to hearing more from you!

Thanks! The extra percussion was one of the first things I added to fill it out. After that locked in, I added some of the stuff like "strum & hum" effect which I moved around a bit. I put it on the second bar of every 4-bar phrase so it didn't take too much away from the entrance of the lead lines, and also create a "but wait, there's more" sort of mind trick.

Neblix - This isn't what you're going to want to hear, but in the studio I only use my M50x's for one reason: To hear what my stuff sounds like for people who exclusively use them. I have found them to be too heavy on certain elements to produce a reliable mix because like Modus said, what sounds great on M50's may not translate well to other devices. However, they are one of my top headphones for recreational listening because the low impedance means a headphone amp isn't really necessary, and closed back design ensures you won't bother people in public places with a loud volume. My personal preference on headphones for mixing is the DT880's, but they're still not ideal for a final mix. If you have the money to spare, a nice pair of studio monitors with the proper placement and room treatment is really the way to go. I'm more than happy to give you some gear recommendations if you want to message me.

Oh yeah, I definitely like what he did with that track. Uematsu added a few more melodic ideas and embellishments to the FF9 rendition (heard mostly in the beginning) that made it my personal "hidden gem" of the OST.

Ahh, understandable. By the way, your guitar playing sounds great in the tracks I've heard thus far! Really looking forward to the ones I haven't heard yet, but I'm forcing myself to play this in order.

Just finished the first disc and this is outstanding. I'm forcing myself to listen to everything cover to cover as I'm guilty of cherry picking my favorite tracks off albums in the past and missing out on some really awesome stuff. The one thing I'm a little sad to see is no remix of Mt. Gulug (or Gurugu Volcano, whatever you prefer to call it) which I arranged for my high school percussion ensemble in 2003. I'll try remixing it when I have time in between work/school stuff, but I'm admittedly still an "artist in progress" when it comes to remixes.

Just in case this project ever takes off again, I would like to try my hand at remixing Daos' Theme because I can't imagine a Lufia 2 album without it. Would basically give it the full orchestral overhaul with some heavy percussion.

https://soundcloud.com/matt-s-harrison/fireeyes Hey everyone! With the 20th anniversary of Secret of Evermore approaching, I thought it would be fun to remake a track that captivated 10-year old me the second I heard it. Jeremy Soule did an amazing job with scoring this game and I feel like it has been living in the shadows of Chrono Trigger all this time. Tracking the instruments didn't take long, but I spent several days focusing on the mix/master and creating a good atmosphere with animal sounds and soundscapes. I even sampled my dog Timmy who was rewarded with a few bits of my pork chop for his hard work! Hope you enjoy my rendition of this track.

Hey, appreciate the comments. The orchestral samples used in Jenova Absolute are all from the Kontakt library, while most of the percussion comes from Damage (a large percussion library you can get with Kontakt if you purchase Komplete). The Angelic Choir came with the Ableton Live 9 Suite. In the previous two tracks, those were all Ableton instruments that I made before Komplete arrived. I need to go back and update the Cosmo Canyon track as I threw that up on a whim, and had yet to really dial in the articulation, note lengths and dynamics. I'll be balancing active duty with being a full time student for the next four months, but if my course work isn't too rigorous I'll find some time to polish up Cosmo or fix up a few more tracks. I've wanted to re-create stuff from all of my childhood favorites, which would be virtually any RPG from the SNES/PS1 era.

https://soundcloud.com/matthew-s-harrison/jenova-absolute Hey everyone. I'm so happy I found enough time this weekend to get this into a state where I can share it. I guess you could call this about 99% complete, because at some point I feel like I'll want to add another percussion instrument. This is how I imagined Jenova Absolute back in 1997 as a middle schooler figuring out each individual line on my clarinet. Although I had played plenty of RPG's and enjoyed hundreds of tracks, FF7 coincided with my growth as a musician and the music in this game literally changed my life. I have served 5 years in the U.S. Army as a musician and I'm still baffled I get to do this for a living. Although I'm a very experienced live sound engineer, I've decided to broaden my horizons and start arranging, mastering and remixing the songs that kept me enthralled in making music as a kid and ultimately leading to where I am today. Any input is appreciated and I hope you all enjoy. If you have a few extra minutes to listen to the other tracks on my SoundCloud, that's great and I thank you but I'm primarily looking for comments on Jenova as my first two tracks were pretty much for learning the ropes. Jenova uses my new Kontakt/Damage instruments and I haven't had time to go back and re-remaster my first two projects just yet.

Just downloaded, and wow this is an incredible collection of arrangements. Near perfection... like 99.9999%. I can't say 100 because Toxic Seahorse's theme from X3 wasn't included!

Hey this is pretty good. Being in the Army I play marches so much they make my head spin, this would be a welcome change as it doesn't follow the typical Sousa 1st strain, 2nd strain, trio, dogfight, recap template that has been beaten to death a thousand times over. I like the transition into the minor segment. Are you planning on making it longer and re-visiting the march section? Another modulation into G Major after the F Minor part could spice it up.

Nice work! Loved the reaction at the end, they really enjoyed playing your arrangement and it must have been a memorable moment for you. I've been wanting to do a wind ensemble arrangement of this song for my band but it'd feel really empty without the strings. Would definitely like to hear the FFVII Main Theme if you ever get around to finishing it and having it performed.

Thank you for your input. I'm not too concerned about putting stuff like this on FB, any original stuff I may want to publish won't be going up there. This weekend I'll be going through it more meticulously to fix the parallels, I know where one of them is... I basically took the piano score and tried to create counterpoint based on what was going on in the bass line. The hard part is figuring out what to do on 7th chords when you only have two instruments in the mix, suppose I could arpeggiate the counterpoint some more. I'll likely be posting various arrangements like this for any music students/teachers out there who want to mix it up and not play the typical everyday repertoire. Thanks again. The song is from Final Fantasy XI btw. I should have properly specified that earlier.

Distant Worlds is by far my favorite ballad from Nobuo Uematsu's huge body of work, and it kind of got lost in the shuffle being a song from the MMO FFXI which a lot of gamers just don't mess with. The orchestral rendition and the Black Mages remix are both outstanding, to anyone who hasn't heard these I strongly recommend a trip over to YouTube to hear what a powerful song this is on a larger scale. I put this together last night to play with my friend in the Navy who's a great oboist. Before long I will have a live recording of this arrangement, If you've got a few minutes to spare check this out and tell me what you think. Lots more to come in the future. http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hipnotyk-Music/113610178708782 (most recent wall post) Thanks! MH

Nightwish is one of my favorite bands and I really enjoyed what you did with the song. Nice work.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hipnotyk-Music/113610178708782?v=wall I don't think I can directly link to the song, but there's the wall of my music page. Lucidity is the only original song I've posted on there, and I haven't been able to acquire anything other than Finale just yet so it doesn't sound as good as it could. If anyone would like to help me acquire a program that doesn't sound so... Finale-ish, that'd be great. --- About the song. I put this together pretty quick over the course of two nights while at the Army School of Music. The instrumentation calls for a Flute, Clarinet, French Horn, and two mallet players. The song has a "opening theme of an RPG" sort of feel to it, the first song you hear when you turn on a video game and have various clips of the characters in battle. I incorporated some canon elements and gradual variations on the main melody as the song progresses. Writing for this instrumentation has been quite fun. I have considered expanding the song to include a Tuba and snare/cymbals as it could use a little more bass and auxiliary support, perhaps when I can acquire some software that doesn't sound so primitive I will do that. Again, any help in that department is appreciated, I would love to be able to do some legit-sounding remixes and contribute to this community in a big way. Anyways, let me know what you think of Lucidity. It's been fun getting back into writing music again and I plan on doing much more in the future. SPC Harrison -Hipnotyk-

Great arrangement. I LOVED the Tetris part and the Punch-Out! intro. For the Final Fantasy 1 section, I would have been thrilled to hear Matoya's Cave, or maybe the Battle Theme leading into the victory fanfare. Also, it would have been amazing to hear the Moon theme from Ducktales, that song is still beyond epic. Regardless, great arranging. I'm a clarinet player for the Army and would love to suggest this to the command team for my band, see if they'd be interested in working it up. Want me to see what I can do?

Just listened to this for the first time and it is mindblowing. Excellent job. Wasn't World Revolution composed by Yatsunori Mitsuda? Uematsu only did a few tracks on Chrono Trigger and I don't believe that World Rev was one of them.