pmac

Hey guys - nice job putting together another album. I've got quite a few comments. As always, the mixing & production value is generally really good across the board. Congrats. Overall I think some tracks simply deviate too far from their original. I think this is especially true in the first disc, a little less so later on. I think you should always know what the original track is when you're listening to a remix. However it's unreasonable to expect anyone to listen to any part of any given song and expect them to know specifically what the original track is when listening to an OCremix track. OCremix is known for taking ideas and extrapolating a bit, and that's cool. If you want the original, listen to the original. There's a separate reason why people listen to this site's stuff. Yet, there's this sort of "respect" I'd call it to the original that I think all good OCremix tracks have, and sadly I think that's lacking in a lot of these tracks. For example, 1-04, I didn't know what I was listening to the whole time. That's 0 percent exaggeration. Felt similarly about 1-08. Just to reiterate I think there's nothing wrong with being a bit abstract. 1-09 takes the theme out there with a slow intro but is still absolutely recognizable. The track order's a bit questionable. Do you guys feel the need to swap things out of logical order for some reason? Barrel Volcano as track 1-03 is a strange choice. It's a late game track that is unanimously remembered as being one of the last legs of your journey. Why is there another entire disc after the final boss track? ? ? Similarly, this happened on FFIX's album with Melodies of Life too, plopped in the middle of the set. I don't understand the motivation. It's not interesting, it doesn't help the flow (complete opposite, in my opinion), and it tempts me to rearrange tracks personally. Just some other observations: 2-06, a perfect fit for this album. This is clearly recognizable, takes some classic OCremix variations. Djpretzel representing OCremix really well, nice work. Also awesome track title (Zant & Valentina together forever) 2-09's cool. The subtle hammers in the background of the original are a missing touch that would have been nice. 3-01 had cool instrumentation and arrangement but I think it had some volume / mix balancing issues? The leads are very muddy and in the background for the first half, then you get this massive lead volume boost at ~1:22. 3-02 Totally admit I was a bit skeptical at first with the build up, but it came through. Nice job. 1-06 Whoever is involved with the professional production of these albums, I think you should take a hard look at this kind of track. Seriously, I'm sick of hearing that lame attempt of a "audio mark" with the dumbass sheep sound or whatever it is. It takes a lot of gall and ego to supplant that into an official OCremix album. Not to mention I thought this was hands down the worst track on the album (if you're going to be egotistical and stain your track with a signature, make sure the track is actually good). Completely ruined one of this game's finest, most recognizable themes. I deleted the track from the album. 'Fight Against an Armed Boss' is one of my top 10 favorite tracks of all time. It's one of the foundational themes of this game that separates this OST from other OSTs. I'm in shock and can't believe it didn't make the final track list. How could you possibly let this slide? Overall I think there's some cohesiveness that just didn't come together as a whole. SM64's, FFVI's and FFIX's albums were big projects and I think they came together as individual albums in their entirety. They felt individually like journeys in their typical OCremix, abstract sort of way. This album seems like a somewhat random collection of Mario RPG interpretations. Which IMO is really sad because if there was ever a game that deserved an album representative of a journey, it's this one. Keep at it. I hope for improvements going forward on official releases.

I listened to this a few times, you guys did great. I'm not sure who controls the mixing + mastering of the whole album, but the tracks fit very well together. Briggs starts out with a really strong track that captures the wayward feeling of journeying around FFIX's overworld, and each track continues strongly. The genres vary heavily but it certainly works, where each track generally has a genre that reflects it. My only gripe is the track "Birth under a Blue Light." It really fails to capture that unique two-sidedness of Zidane being an adventurous vagrant, but at the same time is a soulful, rich and thoughtful character. The acrostic, dark fuzz of an arrangement really fails to capture that. Also, where is Kingdom of Burmecia theme? The Burmecia theme is one of my favorite themes of all time, it's honestly very surprising of all tracks to cut, the organizers thought that that one would be appropriate to not include.

This album is beyond amazing. You guys really put a lot of time into picking the right genres, and it shows. The mixing and arrangement is professionally done and I've had so much hype waiting for this album. Kudos, seriously. :]

It feels like it's rarely updated. Under "Check out the latest OC ReMix albums!" has Mega Man 9 and Nights works, which are most definitely not the most recent. Thanks

I'm signing up for Songwriting. Thanks for the awareness!

Mhm, I'm just expressing my opinion. Maybe the criticism was a bit too rough, I just can't imagine it being an uncommon sentiment. I'm very well aware of the hard work that went into all these songs. OCR is a great community, and I really appreciate that hard work that goes into the albums.

First off, I'm a huge fan of OCR, and you guys really nailed it this time. This feels a little more of a soundtrack than other OCR Albums, where I feel like you could throw this in the game and it'd work perfectly. Not to say the others wouldn't, but sometimes remixes are based off of themes rather than atmosphere, but this album is a great medium. But I do have to comment on a type of song, which is present in the album. Specifically, the Kong In Kongcert song. These type of vocal songs show up now and then on albums, and I have to say, I'm really not a fan. I almost always hit next when these songs come on, where it just feels weird and out of place. I think vocal tracks are cool now and then, like the Hot Head Bop from the DKC2 album. But this? It's like it's pandering to a 12 year old girl demographic. But most of all, it just doesn't fit with the rest of the album. The rest of the tracks range from atmospheric to intense melodies, but that song is just.. not up to par. It's not the music quality, it's the idea of some dude screaming about revolution on a stage. I think the same thing about the Link track on the Heroes v. Villains, and the Tunnel Rhino track on Maverick Rising. Just an opinion. Thanks again for the album.

Isn't hope the Earth crystal?

Screw the haters. This album is amazing, great work. You really explored your instrumental mastery on this one.

this album is fantastic. well mixed, great genres, awesome sounds. nice job people! im really impressed.

Posting for the contest! Nobuo is a god among mortals! Seriously, I love all the FF pieces, but my favorites are the characters' themes. Tifa's... Golbez's... Kuja's... Zidane's theme is quite literally a perfect piece of art to me.