Fray
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Before I say anything else, 1:19-1:25 is to die for! I think it may be the finest six seconds of music Gray's written
"Sacratus Bellator" is a good remix, even an excellent remix, but slightly more problematic than Gray's other recent work. The "issues" might be some of the reason we're seeing mixed reviews here. In some cases, however, I think the negative reviews really are from a lack of musical understanding (I basically agree with Israfel, I'm just not as nice). In particular, I want to debunk the idea that this remix does not contain enough of Frog's theme. This remix is a pretty textbook -- and well-executed -- example of writing variations on a melody. It's a concept about as old as music itself, and if you can't recognize it in action you need to get with the program. Of course it's okay to express negative opinions, but I have the right to argue when I think someone's opinion is based on a lack of basic knowledge.
The goodness of this remix lies in the quality and creativity of the variations. Gray is particularly good, both here and in general, at doing clever things with timing. For example, that great moment at 1:19-1:25 is a resolution back to a familiar phrase from a time-shifted (and slightly altered, notewise) version of the measure before it. The emotional impact crutches on the assumption that the listener has heard the original Frog theme. I think it's a cool artistic use for the form that is the OC ReMix ^^.
Other neat variation-related tricks include using just the first two notes of the melody to establish a groove and provide an emotional build -- the nicest example is at 3:19, the synchopated version of the melody at 2:16, and the piano countermelody at 0:38.
I dislike the pacing of the intro (start-0:26). The idea was to ease in gradually, I think, but too many instruments and motifs are introducted all at the same time... The swell at 0:07 is the most obviously misplaced -- I think this may have been part of what someone was calling "cliche" in his usual socially constipated manner (hehe sorry Prot). The end result does sound a little like the intro wasn't working out to begin with, so you threw in a swell to cover it up. In particular, I think the alternating violin notes are a bit too dense to come in right at the start... That idea would have been better saved until 0:29.
I'm neither an expert nor a fan of much ethnic music, so take this with a grain of salt: some of the ethnic sections sounded a bit clinky to me. I thought the flutter-tongue on the shakuhadidgeripanflute was overused, nor did I like some of the chromatic percussion -- particularly at 1:52-2:01 (that passage in general sounds uninspired). It does work pretty well at 2:38 though. To me, ethnic instruments tend to bring any music dangerously close to kitsch territory; even minor musical weaknesses will make people point the finger and yell, "CHEESY!" So that's why I'm being so damn picky about it ^^
Production is excellent... Gray takes a less-is-more approach and relies on the composition to create a full, balanced sound. Rock on
Sacratus Bellator does an admiral job of handling some significant challenges -- namely giving new mojo to a very well-traveled theme and blending hardcore orchestral writing with other styles. It has a few flaws, but it's an enjoyable and creative treatment of our favorite Frog's theme song.
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Yatta! Suikoden had such a badass soundtrack, and it's so underremixed.
This percussion on this is ultra-sweet -- the beats are really playful, organic, and engaging. Live recorder never hurts either
Instrumental arrangement is mighty sweet too. I love how the theme is bounced around between different ensembles with such a concise direction. The music goes places, but it never rambles.
Fantastic stuff.
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Very nice! I've always held the opinion that when artists expand into different styles, their original style becomes richer and more refined -- I think this happened for Gray.
The first thing that struck me about this piece is how the timing is cleverly teased. The whole piece is in straight four, but much of the piece is presented in such a way that a non-attentive listener won't realize where the downbeat lies. Specifically, the bass root note -- often a queue for the beginning of a measure -- often isn't brought in until the second beat. The point of this? It creates a dreamy unmetered feel without losing form, and retains the listener's attention by throwing them something subtly different than they're expecting.
The second most standout quality is that the mix sounds huge. The effect is accomplished with surprisingly little reverb on the main instruments -- Gray does things the right way by relying instead on good panning and subtle ambient effects to create a sense of depth. The result is a mix that sounds vast, but retains clarity.
Also, although this is new age music, it's definately not "relaxation" music. It seems a bit low-key on the surface, but the emotional build, while subtle, is nevertheless quite intense.
I can offer nothing substantial in the way of criticism; GrayLightning really has this style down pat.
Great work as always
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Oh I really really dig this. I do think the compression is on the heavy side; way more than I would have used, but it doesn't really hurt the piece much. It has a really nostalgic feel for me for some reason, perhaps because it reminds me of some of my favorite older OC Remixes.
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I always seem to gripe at Gray for the pacing in his mixes. I don't feel that way about this one at all; everything seems well-timed in this one.
As with any GL piece of late, it's full of quality orchestration. A few of my favorite moments are:
- The subtle catharsis at 1:06-1:18. It's so understated I barely noticed it the first time, but it sounds so beautiful.
- The low strings echoing the melody line at 1:46.
- The asian harp (?) at 4:33.
- Switching to pizzicatto strings on the main melody at 2:53.
This is great work, and one of GL's best. Not as complex and daring as Armageddon, but close -- and better paced to boot.
Now.... for the last time, I'm begging Gray to try something upbeat, poppy, and faster.
Not sure if that's a joke or not -- but, if it's not, check out his "Afterlife" remix from Final Fantasy.
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Emotional intensity is the name of the game in this remix from what is in my opinion the greatest Tactical RPG series of all time.
To be honest I've been hesitant to review this piece, because it's a little over my head. I don't know a whole lot about hardcore orchestral arrangement (i.e. 20 tracks for the strings, that sort of thing) so I haven't really known what to say. I know from talking to him that Gray put a ton of work into this piece.
The effort certainly paid off. The instrumental arrangement sounds awesome, and you don't immediately realize how complicated it is. I take that as a good sign -- the complexity has been used effectively to create a whole instead of sounding like, well, a bunch of complex "stuff". If you feel like it though, listen closer and you'll see that the music is oozing with technical detail. I particularly love the chord voicings in the brass. Liten from 3:05-end to see what I'm talking about.
Orchestral arrangements are often lacking in percussion, but not this one
It has tons of variety, action, and detail without ever being obtrusive or showy.Now the obligatory minor gripes section:
- The intro is a bit weak/nonexistent. There's like, one brass note and some percussion swell. I've often found introductions to be a weakness in Gray's work, so it may just be an issue of artistic difference, but I'd really like it if he'd spend more time "setting the stage" for pieces. Some transitions, like the one at 2:00, seem a little rushed too.
- There are phrases here and there that get overrepeated. In particular, there's a BABC#DC#BA line, introducted at 0:46 and then double-tempo at 1:17 that gets beaten into the ground.
It's worth noting that sounds are very organic and realistic. I don't usually mention this because it's often a function of how much someone spent on their sound library, but in this case it's a combination of good sounds a skilled arrangement.
This is a great piece of work that's both technically impressive and an enjoyable listen. I know from talking to Gray that he feels it's his best work, and from a technical standpoint, I definately agree. For whatever reason, his Battle of Olympus remix with Freemind is my personal favorite, but this this one's close.
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Agreed, cthonic. There's nothing even remotely cookie-cutter about this remix. It's creative, it's well-developed, and it's executed just about perfectly. For me, it's an instant favorite.
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it's GPL. his plea that people don't use his software for music that goes against his religious beleifs is just that -- a plea.
he can't mandate it without changing the license.
if i used his software i'd want to respect his plea but honestly i have no idea what this guy would consider acceptable or not.
can i not make a doom remix since doom has demons? can i not make any house music because of the early popularity of house in gay clubs?
it's just something i don't want to have to think about when i'm making music.
cheers.
Well, he says to please not use it for anything that is "against God and Jesus Christ". If you read that as boolean logic, you're in the clear as long as your song only insults God, or Jesus Christ, individually, but not both at the same time.
For example, if I used it to make a song with the lyric, "God has sex with goats, and that's why he rulz", or a song that said "Jesus Christ can suck my wang", I'd be ok. But if I had both lyrics in the same music, or mixed them together like, "God and Jesus Christ do fingercuffs with goats", that would be a violation of the license.
Hope that clears things up for you guys.
Of course, if music that appeals to gays is a problem, you better keep that VST far away from anything Broadway, teehee.
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Really awesome and well-written. This is an impressive piece of work!
I really don't like how the drums are processed -- the sound is too clean and bright, causing them to sound more synthetic than they might if they sat in the mix better. I'd love to hear how they sounded with just a touch of overdrive or other vintage warmth kind of effect.
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I loved the game and its soundtrack so im really happy that someone remixed it finally.
Good stuff here one of my favourite trance pieces.
There's a few other Morrowind remixes on this site : http://www.ocremix.org/detailgame.php?gameid=324. They're all very good.
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Interesting comments.
- Props to Dhsu for calling the problem long before I submitted it. Keep in mind though the WIP thread had people insisting that I should turn the ENTIRE piece into a funk thing. I didn't ignore you; it's just impossible to not pick and choose between the advice given.
- Rayza, are you by any chance talking about the pads at 1:24? Not many people have complained about the timing on those parts, but the ones who HAVE all seem to be seasoned techno or trance artists. I'll watch out for that stuff in the future.
Everybody else, thanks for the kind words! I really appreciate it
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More great '80s-inspired (actually, I think In the Air Tonight was '78 or '79) stuff from Makke. If you liked this one, definately check out the Krazy Komets remix; like Protricity said it's more of the same great stuff. The vocals are really solid, and I think the repetitive bassline works just fine -- it acts as a fulcrum for everything else. Processing is very clean and professional.
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Just wanted to tack on that DarkeSword was also very helpful with the resubmission. Also, I got oodles of good feedback from GrayLightning and SuperGreenX during the whole WIP process. Thanks guys!
If anyone's interested in hearing the version with the bluesy solo (I still kinda like both versions
), it's at http://fray.winter-light.net, and it's also available on vgmix.Let this instance underscore that when the judges say they want you to resubmit something, they aren't kidding.
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Wow, two literate newbies on the same page.
Or, for the non-literate newbies:
OMG 2 N00BZ WHO UZE BIG WERDS!
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Very dreamy and absorbing. I think the vocals sound great
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Wow, this is an impressive, moving piano piece, I dare say one of the best on OCRemix. Arrangement and performance are stellar; I didn't really like the piano sound used here -- I think it's too bright for the mood, and I hate bright pianos anyway, although they're a necessary evil when you need one to cut through a mix... Anyway that's kind of a matter of preference. Great stuff!
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First off, I don't have a problem with the tempo change at 1:58. Works fine to me.
I absolutely love the percussion. It's beautifully layered, and sounds very organic and realistic. GL obviously worked really hard on this, and it paid off. There's a few places where realistic instruments are used almost like electronic ones would be used in techno -- and it sounds perfectly natural. I love this. One example is the really quiet high percussion that comes in after 2:05; it's used like a phased synth hihat, but fits perfectly into the classical mood.
Some particularly brilliant musical moments:
- I love the brass part that enters at 2:50. It's doing its own thing for the first measure, then picks up a piece of the main melody for a measure, but with the beat shifted over a note. Nice!
- The vocal part sneaks in nicely for a couple fo seconds at 0:22.
- Great snare part at 2:46-2:50.
The instrument ensemble is very rich. Listen closely and you'll hear a lot of subtle stuff going on. There's lots of great string work. The vox sounds fade in and out nicely from time to time. Brass sounds really great... Like a lot of GL's recent work, the musical activity is very dense.
However, in terms of tempo and style changes, I feel like it's too dense, as if a longer piece has been cut down to fit a shorter timeframe. I'd like to hear some of the moods explored more fully. In particular, the transition at 0:38 is too drastic too soon. It's hard for me to point to any other particular point where a transition happened too early; it's more of an overall feel I get.
That being said, beautiful, complex instrumental arrangement and excellent percussion work make this one you should definately check out!
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I enjoyed the heck out of this one -- definite keeper. This definately gets an A+ for feel. Sound choice and overall style are just top notch.
The repetitiveness really didn't bother me at all, although I do agree with DJP that the key change at the end was a kinda iffy. It's not a bad concept, but it's too sudden; there's nothing there musically to introduce the key change.
Great stuff!
Edit:
Are we sure the remixer is male? I mean, the name is Joni, and the handle is SEDUCTION. Just wondering if this wasn't one of those flubs made just because there are so few female remixers...
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Are we all listening to the same thing? The guitar was bland and annoying, the transitions were out of place, the synths were random and went against the whole grain of the style. It was overall just repetitive and boring. The area around the drum solo was boring... Why is this getting such good reviews? The same tune is played over and over again too... Sheezus.
Give it a few listens, see if it grows on you.
Other than that it could just be differences in taste.
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It seems almost like a guilty pleasure to be excited to see that Gray Lightning did an electronic dance style piece. I always feel like a bit of a poser for gravitating towards that sort of music, and I feel like I can hold my fairly large collection of GL tracks up as if to say, "I'm not completely lame! I enjoy something cultured and challenging!"
Actually, I should better clarify my tastes -- My favorite kind of music is that which takes the electronic dance style and does something new and innovative with it. When I saw that GL had made a more electronic piece, I expected to find just that; hence my excitement.
I was not disappointed
"AfterLife" is a wonderful and unique blend of GL's tried-and-true new age style and electronic dance. The result is something akin to newer (read: last decade or so) Tangerine Dream music -- it has groove and punch like dance music, but the structure and general aesthetic are decidedly classical. Production quality is excellent. Both the synths and the "real" sounds are great; they're well-chosen and mix together smoothly. I this is particularly laudable considering it's the author's first foray into a different style of music. It sounds effortless -- as if he's done this sort of thing before. One of my favorite tidbits is an odd little synth that enters around 1:36 -- it sounds sort of like a guiro with a filter sweep. I can honestly say I've never heard a synth guiro before
I love how the piece is structured. There are two big tempo changes -- something you don't see every day. They're definate attention-getters -- the shifts from slow to fast and back again are quite drastic -- but they don't sound jarring or unnatural. The tempo shifts are a major contributor to the complete, epic feel of this piece. I didn't actually look at the total time until after a couple of listens, and I was quite surprised to see that it was only 4:10. So much happens musically that I felt like I had listened to something considerably longer; I was expecting something in the 5-minute range. It's not just the tempo changes that create such a sense of completeness in such a short time; there's a lot of musical action packed into every moment and detail. Just like a great classical piece
I love the percussion. I know so little about percussion that it's hard for me to say much more than that... It sounds great and it's not repetitive.
One minor gripe:
Also, the tremolo strings at the end sound like they could use a little polish. It sounds like it's not quite on the beat when it drops to the lower note at 3:47. Maybe that was an intentional human touch?
If it's not already clear from what I said, or if you're just skimming the review:
This is excellent, and I highly reccomend it to anyone. For techno fans especially, it's a great way to expand your horizon a little bit in the new age/classical direction without giving up too much of the style you know and love.
Like a lot of Gray Lightning's work, it's not as instantly accessible as your average remix. I liked it the first time I heard it, as I imagine anyone will, but it took a couple of repeats before I loved it. So I suggest giving this piece at least three listens before moving on.
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I disagree that this is one of Darkesword's weaker works... It's actually one of my favorites. I think the original tune has a really good melody to work with too. Honestly I don't see the problem.
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Well shit, this one's amazing
Stop reading reviews and download it immediately. It treats one of video game music's finest tunes to to a number of different styles, and every one of them is dead-on.There's only one thing I didn't like: the first 18 seconds or so... It sounds like an amateurish take on a piano concerto style intro. It's not bad or anything, it's just a lot weaker than the rest of the piece, which sounds very professional and perfected.
Overall this is freaking incredible. It's a level of complexity that as a very green remixer I can't even imagine achieving... Just... download it
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For anyone deciding whether to download -- check this one out, it's quite excellent.
There are some things about VG remixers I may never understand. Among them are an underground but persistent fixation with lounge jazz, the frequent posting of signatures too disgusting for words, and the desire to remix music from Doom games. My impression of the game's music is that it was repetitious, annoying, and forgettable. I normally jump at a new Mazedude remix, but if it's from Doom I kinda cringe.
I have to admit, this mix makes me understand a little better
I actually DO recognize that groove, and while it's not a terribly fond recognition, analoq did a great job with it. The voice-overs are superb and incredibly appropriate. The mixing is deliciously clean. Despite being from a repetitious original, it doesn't get boring.This is great stuff. Considering most people don't have the same issue with the Doom soundtrack I do, I'm sure everyone will love it even more than I did. Which is to say I loved it quite a good bit.
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Gaaah... treble... hurts...
Well, that's what the equalizer is for. Still, my god man... Those are some freaking BRIGHT sounds. I have to adjust the hell out of this for it to even be listenable.
Other than that, this sounds wonderful. The melody is a lot clearer than some of your other work, and it's well-treated throughout. I love those harmonies around the 3 minute mark -- great stuff.
There's a lot of musical variety too. The drums are nice, and there's a good feeling of musical motion throughout the piece. There's a very subtle, well-done voice over at around the 2 minute mark. Everything is really great in general. This would be one of my favorite bLiNd pieces -- which is saying a lot -- if it weren't for the rather sadistic mastering in this one.
For anyone else having trouble with the treble (wasn't that a Star Trek episode? wait, no...), I reccomend using whatever EQ you have to cut everything above 3kHz by a good 9-12dB.
--- Edit (I always try to write reviews before reading what anyone else says, otherwise I get too easily biased) ---
and BTW i will probably fix the bass pad issues (up the volume a little to balance the sound), up the vox sample, and cut some high frequencies for the final star fox project. Glad I could get different views from vgmix and OC here to fix it
Cool, can't wait to hear the final version
Like I said, this is really excellent stuff.
OCR01292 - Shivers "Cerebral Rose Jam"
in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Posted
Just gonna be a cheapo and paste my vgmix review for this one ^^
Oh! Glad you posted this one -- I'd heard it as a "WIP" sometime ago, and I'd since lost it. When you disappeared into the ether a few months back I thought I'd never hear it again
Most of my comments will probably be rehashes of a review I wrote in the OCR WIP forum some time ago -- although that thread is probably long gone, I think it's the exact same mp3.
The problems with this one are pretty negligible, so I'll start with that:
- The vocals sound pretty good for the post part, but they can be distractingly synthetic at times. I get images of Celes singing the opera in Final Fantasy 6
Not much you can do about that issue though, short from buying some insanely expensive vocal software or hiring a singer.
- It makes good musical sense to have the piece exit the same way it entered; however, some of the later sections (from around 2:50 on) sound a little too rehashed. As I bounce back and forth between the two, I think I'm seeing some subtle differences in the percussion, but I think it's too subtle. Still, it's a "Jam", as the title would indicate, so it makes sense for the structure to be cyclical.
On to the good stuff.
- First and foremost, the emotional impact is excellent. I'm not sure of the exact technical reasons -- I just know that it brings out feeling in me; my chest muscles loosen and my lungs open up when I hear it. And not in some cheezy relaxation tape kind of way -- the closest comparison I'd draw is the way I feel when I listen to Indian classical music, which isn't terribly surprising, considering the tablas in the percussion. It's very meditative.
- Great job on picking out an ensemble. These instruments work very well together.
- You mentioned using some random time drift on the piano parts in an OCR thread, and I said I thought that was a bad idea. Well, at least in this case, I was wrong -- the piano sounds very natural. If you'd told me it was performed instead of sequenced, I'd have been fooled. The heavy player panning works out great too -- I love those first piano notes at 0:06 come in from the far far right.
- I really dig the vague catharsis at 1:51, it's really pretty.
- The echoing stacatto synth sound is used very effectively. The really fast arpeggios have an airy, whimsical sound which contrast nicely with the otherwise earthy groove.
Overall:
This is an old Fray favorite (Frayvorite?) that I'm happy to be reunited with. Highly reccomended.