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I actually enjoy slow or orchestral tracks more than fast ones that belong to the techno genre, so I was looking forward to listening this when I saw it posted. The main problem, I feel, is in the first 1-2 minutes where I feel that the quality of the sounds could have been clearer. It just seems that although the quality of the samples like the clarinet seemed pretty good, it seems a little clouded and balance could have been tweaked. The sounds also didn't "mesh" together convincingly as a wholesome soundscape during that time. I love the overall arrangement though; I think I begin to appreciate the piece more in the last two minutes, it gets really beautiful when the melody gets passed around to the instruments and each gets their part to play. The guitar part was in particular short but sweet -- the bass playing only at half notes is also a classical orchestral move. I liked that. I think its good work, and that you could improve on the technical side -- that is, the balancing of the synthesized sounds and making sure it comes together great as a whole. If you're interested, I recommend the Seiken Densetsu Remix "This Heart" (by Destiny) as an example of how everything comes together beautifully, and the samples play off each other perfectly. Other than that, I'm looking forward to your future works.

My last addition to this thread, which has spawned much posts that detracts from the purpose of this thread.. is that I don't believe that the criticisms here would have deterred her from continuing to make remixes. Interference in the form of the vehement defence of pixietricks was totally unwarranted. Listened to Sakura Drops.. I'm not totally sure what the similarities are -- Utada voice is closer to a low tenor and has a distinctive timber, as well as an "airiness" in her singing. Anyways, for your information, Utada is not -really- a native Japanese speaker; she was educated mostly in the U.S. In fact, in an interview from a few years ago, she claims to write her lyrics in english first, and translates them to Japanese later. Anyway, good to know pixie, that you can take such criticisms. Get working on your next work -- many of us look forward to it.

Again, I *MUST* emphasize. NO ONE is tearing this piece apart. NO ONE is bashing her. Why is everyone so defensive of pixietricks? Who're the ones needing a life here? Anyways, as far as I see, there are much positive comments here, and those who made negative comments have pointed out on where to improve. I thought that was called constructive criticism.

I'm not looking for flames, but talk about ego. Perhaps that strange note isn't your fault, and you chose to copy the original sequence.. well, nice of you to provide the original sample. Anyways, I think you should regard these comments positively. There are posters who rose vehemently to your defence, but nobody's bashed you at all. It's pretty ridiculous. Regardless, hopefully you'll continue improving and produce even better works in the future. //edit: After listening to the original, I'll agree with Dhsu that the dissonance in your remix is more than that's present in the original. I listened to it very carefully again.. it might be the same notes as they were in the original, but they certainly weren't synthesized in the same context -- in the original it played as a counter melody/contrasting counter I believe.. but yeah, I listened carefully and well, it didn't sound so bad after all. But to the person who's listening casually, it can be pretty distracting. Also, I take back my words of praise that you had a magnificent vision for the soundscape.. it's basically a reprise of the original, with better samples and nicer sounds and little additions. However, I would like to add praise that the adding of the melodic line for your vocals is pretty damn brilliant. I love how you could think of fitting such a great line into such a strange original.. I think you have a lot of promise. Just two pointers as I have aforementioned - cut on the swelling ("kashite soshite") and MAYBE fine-tune the balance a little and let your voice "sit" on top of the music. Looking forward to your future works.

As mentioned; the song does have a terrific soundscape. The vision of the artist writing the background music is great -- the sounds are inventive and they come together as a whole pretty well. I have not much complaints about the Japanese pronounciation, although they're not very clear, they work. Could be better, though.. if the articulation of the words were clearer. The "hoo hoo hah hah" vocals at 3:30 are slightly off tune, distracted me for a tad. My main complaint about this song is how the voice doesn't "ride" crystal clear above the background music. Now, maybe it's just my half-functional ear-phones, when I replace them later this week I'll know for sure. But for now it seems like the vocals are just mixing around with the background music: I can't hear the singer's voice distinctly. [edit: I verified this abit later -- the balance is FINE. Sorry for the blooper.] Now that I hear the voice clearer (see edit above), I have to comment about the voice.. the Japanese doesn't sound too forced, but it quite obviously comes across as a non-native speaker of the language singing it. There are a -few- parts which I think the crescendo/decrescendo in the singing is too exaggerated; in band we used to call that "swelling". It's pretty distasteful when it's not used well; but it only happened once in this song. So basically - to the singer - I like your voice. You can sing, but cut on the swelling (for example, "kashite soshite" at 1:55) and if you're going to do more Japanese tracks, work harder on making it sound more natural. In general, I likes. Song doesn't change much in mood/tempo, which could give one the impression that it's "flat".. Well, good work. Keep trying.

Hey Reuben. Have been taking note of you since the Shenmue mix, and it was particularly surprising and delightful when I found out where you came from. However, I didn't find this remix particularly impressive. I feel that the instruments could have used a little more clarity; and that you could have employed more distinction in volume throughout the piece. The percussion fill-ins sound very amateurish and don't quite come at the right moments in the piece. I also noticed you're using almost the exact same instrumentation from your COsmo Canyon remix; I'd like to see you be abit more adventurous and branch out abit. One thing I'd give a plus for is the beginning of the song; it's a little exposed but I think it does well. Apart from that, I hope you continually improve in your arrangement skills.

The arrangement is great; it doesn't have the typical build.. and I can't fully visualise the entire message of the song, but I have to say that the introduction was a work of genius. Excellent buildup. However, the great remix is marred by poor samples, notably the Brass/Lead Trumpet sample is really a letdown. Apart from that, I'm excited to see more of your works. Good work.

I can't believe I've not listened to this song before. It's an amazing song; great samples, great arrangement, and the orchestral sound is really polished. I love how the bassoon is being used here, and I *definitely* hear some resemblance to Jeremy Soule's work on Morrowind III : The Elder Scrolls. This work is THAT impressive. I've played Brass for 7 years for a symphonic band and I've listened to quite a few orchestral/symphonic songs and I have to say that some parts are almost indistinguishable from a real orchestra. The Bassoon/Flute samples are particularly impressive; although the strings are still synth-y, everything blends together really well. I love it. Perfect.

I hope all of you (non) idiots read the commentary and realised the song was played live. I like.

Fantastic and creative arrangement. One thing I notice about your music is that while the arrangement and structural flow are all great works, they somehow lack a "climax".. Maybe it's not really that; it just feels unfulfilled. I like it, but a section with full orchestration that beautifully plays out the theme would've given it a wholesomeness; at least that's what I think. The song has a great intro, you feel like you're being led into something larger, but that something "larger" never comes; the song never "envelopes" the listener.. That's best I could put it. Still, lovely piece of work.

Great funk! I love the contrasting sounds of the samples, from the modern synth to the NES sounds in 2:40; they're just used perfectly in conjunction to each other. One thing I'd complain about is the Strings SFX involved earlier around 2:30 I guess; it was a little out of place. I love the introduction; the sounds and style of the articulation is really catchy. I would ask for a more staccato sound of the general synth in 0:30; it seems like the articulation there is a little lazy. Right, I love the mass of sounds; it brings alot of crazy textures and colors but also manages to keep it's main direction/melody in the spotlight. It's a great listen; the breaks are placed juuuust right, like the one in 2:55, and the sounds evolve in a natural manner. Great work.

The beginning is really catchy with the woodwinds phrase; and it brings a distinct medieval/celtic taste to it but the bass beat behind is pretty modern, so there's a nice contrast there. The brass samples are sound a little too synthy at 1:40, which happens again at 3:25. Most of the time it's only the trumpet's interjecting triplets/semi-quavers so they don't sound too exposed. The dark tone of 5:00 is let down by that bass sample. I think there could be some fine-tuning in the balance at 6:00; it has alot of potential, but right now the sounds are a little ear piercing. In all, I would say that the piece is well constructed, as previously mentioned, but is not quite background material. What I would say is that there's nothing particularly too distinctive in here. Perhaps there is a lack of direction; too much mechanicality involved in constructing and piecing up the song rather than a communication of thoughts through the music. I thought it lacked direction in the sense that it didn't communicate much to me. Still, it's a great display of skill.

I disagree it being John Williams-ish. Very much NOT so.. Seems like any orchestral sound is instantly linked to John Williams ... Not my favorite JH remix, but great samples, pretty creative arrangement as well, but I was hoping for some more *sweeping* parts with brass/string chorales holding the melody for an extended period to give it a more uplifting shape. Now THAT would be John Williams. Regardless, good work.

Listening to this mix is a pretty unique experience to me; on one hand I've had it on repeat for about half an hour and I really like it; in general I really like acoustic guitars and pieces that utilise guitars only. To the remixer (Neil Benjamin, I believe); great job. However, I'd like to give additional comments which I believe you could take into consideration. I would LOVE to see stronger guitar playing; it's true that right now it works well, but if you had a better guitar and more technical finesse I have NO DOUBT whatsoever with the current soul infused into play that the piece would become a masterpiece on OCRemix. Maybe you could revisit this song a few years on; it would be an ORGASMIC experience. Ideas for stronger guitar playing include more grace notes, more improvisation and just more inbetween notes that you think fully express your feelings. The playing is pretty stuttered even when the notes go abit stuttered and it detracts from the experience abit. The Chrono Trigger arc around 3:40 suffers a little bit from out-of-tuneness. You could rotate some instrumentation for the melody; for example, the lead guitar never ever stops playing and I personally think that giving the melody to the strings while the guitar rests for abit would add a nice dimension and give a refreshing re-entry of the guitar. I realise this is a kinda big suggestion but I think these kind of arrangements will give your mix more variation. But like I said, just some additional comments. Great job.

Great work; and it's thrilling to see how your sound has changed from the past year remixes. The textures and tones in this piece are very, very entertaining..

Proticity, you are a living example that bastards can have talent. The song sounds very dynamic, and like someone said, never stagnates. It keeps me on my listening toes, and pleases much. Great work; I went to download your other pieces and they were pretty good as well.

Do you know what the biggest problem with lousy fucking speakers is? You never get to hear the bass. I had this song on my computer for 5 months, loved it entirely, kept it on my playlist for more than awhile and today, I just got an MD player. This song was one of the first to get into the MD. And what did I hear? Bass. Fucking good, funky, smooth bass. This is fantastic; hearing new stuff just because I'm using earphones It makes the song even more interesting now; and the addition of the bass (because I can hear it now) really changes the entire context of the song; it becomes less serious, more funky, more driven, heavier; and the general tone changed. Still fantastic; and I'll be sure to enjoy this on my MD for a very, very long time. Cheers, DJP!

Great samples you have there O_o. I for one, don't really see the resemblance between it and the Titanic theme. I'm not thinking of it at all. It's a wonderful piece, but I wish the melody by the cello could come abit stronger at 0:58, but other than that, beautiful. Thank you.

Great funk you got going there Darke I've never heard of the original but I think this is really good and I really love your remixes! What I particularly enjoy here is the harmonization of the saxaphones when they play together, and the melody of the piece is kinda repetitive but it's generally very good. Great work you got here , I really enjoyed it.

When I first heard this song, I almost cried. The piano had a very intricate and delicate melody that led to that incredible entrance by the electric guitar. It was a perfect blend, and just the RIGHT kind of sound that was needed to advance the song. I think that this remix is much better than the original, which has its own merits but is unable to match up to the beautiful intensity of this remix. The progression, right from the entrance of the perfectly executed piano, the warm tone of the background, the electric guitar... and the only real flaw with this song is it's ending; and it really bothers me that the song could not end perfectly. I like the concept of the guitar and piano ending together hand-in-hand which symbolises the idea of "Not Alone in this World".. As if they have found each other. But still, the ending doesn't do justice to this song. Still, if this song represents the farewell of Jaxx (who I am not familiar with because I'm relatively unfamiliar with OCR), I think it is a great choice. The work done here is amazing.. I'd like to thank Jaxx and Dale North (who provided that delicate and perfect balance in instrumentation) for such a moving song.. Forget 'almost cried', I just did.

andricon, I totally agree with you and your little anecdote is completely admirable. My mother was extremely dimissive of video games as well as its music, she never believed it was any good. It was not until one day, when I was putting "Small Two of Pieces" from Xenogears on loud that she asked, "what's that?".. Maybe she learnt a little then.. but she still has no respect for video games. Regardless, this remix is very good indeed. The overall sound is very real and wholesome, and although a real orchestra could have done better, that is an unfair consideration. It's a great piece of music, and I'd have to say the variations in the theme are interesting enough. The only problem could be it's lack in length, a song of this epic proportion needs more exploration in the middle to expand its musical themes and fully reach its potential. But I guess Jeremy would be a little too busy for that.. other than that, I applaud this remix for its greatness as a whole.