ambient

The Black Swan by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. Excellent book about uncertainty and randomness.

Great mix argi!

Oooo, a new SOR remix. Can't wait to check it out when I get home tonight. EDIT: Listened to it. Man, I am too lazy to give detailed feedback. In not so many words, this is repetitive and could use some variation or complexity in the beats. But I really like the production and the overall vibe.

Some tracks are fun like IMD, Omen, Thunder, Take Me to the Hospital. But nothing really amazing. I think IMD, Omen, Thunder took it in an interesting direction, but I expected more. Totally agree with zircon - Warrior's Dance was a letdown. All in all, Omen was probably better than anything else on AONO, but I think AONO was a better album. One last comment - Dead Ken Beats is a million times better than any of the tracks on IMD, yet somehow it never made it on any record...

My friend recently saw this video and thought that it was a complete waste of his time and regrets believing the thread title

Is FFXIII Regular set in Zanarkand? Sure looks a lot like the opening sequence from FFX. Or are the guys at Square-Enix running out of ideas? Versus seems darker, which does not necessarily mean better. You can't really judge what the stories are going to be from the trailers. But both make me think of FFVIII, which imo SUCKED.

The Prodigy are back!

If you are having problems with choosing a direction for your mix at this point, I would say, leave it alone and move on - you are obviously lacking inspiration. Why do you want to remix this track? Do you want to say something that wasn't said with this track in the original? If so, then you should have some kind of an idea how you would want to re-imagine the track. I'm sure you have certain inner feelings and sentiments associated with this theme, explore them, let the inspiration come from the inside. You will feel just so much more motivated and fulfilled when you build the base for the track on your own idea. Technical tweaks, minor improvements, things like that can be recommended by other people, but nothing can substitute for inner (maybe even selfish) inspiration. After all, every form of art is a way to express oneself.

I don't think I even need to comment here. This is an awesome remix. Any way you cut it, bLiNd's stuff is always really high quality. It's clubby, it's danceable, it's what a trance track should be. Much respect!

Absolutely amazing.

I'm just chiming in. Love what you have going so far. Checked the youtube link. Great stuff, beats are awesome. I don't know if arrangement is almost exact copy of the original or not, but I like the quality regardless. What you don't have is a good structure and flow of the track. You give this peace a bit of intro, breakdown, and outro, you got a winner.

I love the original and actually have a WIP of my own going. It's more of a house with elements of freestyle remix. But let's see what you got going here. I actually love you violin samples. I would have used them very differently, and def not as leads. What samples are those, from what program? As for the remix itself, I don't think it's OCR material. The style does not really break any new grounds with this mix, this sounds like a less danceable version of the original. Drums are not really mastered/processed well enough, not nearly at the level of your SOR2 "Syndicate" remix. Variations sounds like they are there just for the sake of having variations and don't flow well. I think you should take it back to the drawing board. I see it like this - WIPs are either OCR material or not. Those that are not can be divided into two categories - ones that have some very interesting elements that could be used to come up with something great and those that don't. This mix is the latter. Areas where you can improve: try to take your mixes in a slightly different direction from the original, you don't have to make an orchestral mix out of a SOR track, but you still need to make it your own. Having the same bassline as the original, even if its not in the entire track, is also kind of lazy. Lastly, you need to work on your production to really make your tracks shine.

I thought I would be the only one mentioning Sub-Terrania. Nice going Overcoat! So, the games that I play probably just to listen to the soundtrack are Streets of Rage 1 and 2 and Subterrania.

Good stuff. Like the beats and the bass. Good processing and mastering on both. The comment about shuffle and gosts is not necessarily valid. There are plenty of dnb tunes out there that go for the same approach as oneup is using here. Still, this needs a little something more to it. Arrangement needs to be fleshed out a little more and drums, well, if you ask me, you need to "cut 'em up like regular chicken" closer to the end to make it interesting.

I still think there is a certain bias against true dance/club music progression on the site. Maybe because it is inherently hard to combine OCR arrangement requirements with dance music norms (or cliches, if you are a hater), but that in itself creates a bias. I think more remixers should try not to compromise either of the ideals, or we end up with OCtRance, which not a synergy but rather a chimera. Now, some of the remixers, such as Blind, although VERY few in numbers, were able to achieve that synergy in their work. Unfortunately, this is less of a trend and more of an exception. But then again, majority of the mixers and the audience on this site are more video game music fans than dance music fans, so maybe the audience is getting exactly what they are looking for.

Ok, as usual, I'm starting with a qualifier, those I hope it won't take away from my comments. I am listening to this mix on my laptop speakers and I am liking it quite a bit. Good job carpet muncher, err... sorry, monster! Another thing I'm not sure about is how it fits with the OCR standards, but I think it should be fine. I've been out of the loop for a bit, so I'm not the best person for more constructive feedback right now, so ask around, and I think it should be ready to go! Great synths and awesome beats!

Tamer, Honestly, your argument doesn't hold water, and you know it. But for some reason it seems like you are just compelled to argue. When djp compares it to "White Skies", he says : "also from FFX and also trance". In addition to that, in the last paragraph he once again writes: "this is a trance mix with a similar title." As for the "elaborate piano bit on top of a trance foundation", well, that sentence makes it sound like there actually IS a trance foundation. 4/4 beats and a synth bass do not make trance, they are common elements in many electronic music styles. It is how all the elements come together in the entire piece.

Hey Ojizzle! I thought this area of the forum was to write reviews and express your personal opinion on the mix. I'm sorry, if I was wrong. I definitely don't want to start another argument about OCR standards, which I think are fine. You might have not read through my post carefully, as I do say that it is an interesting arrangement, and I made it relatively clear that my problem with it was a personal preference. I think you overreacted and in no way wanted to come across as saying "if it was passed by the judges then it is the best thing since sliced bread and its perfect in every way, unless otherwise noted, and any criticism is invalid." Still, you did in a roundabout way agree that this mix is not really trance. But since it is referred to as such by both the remixer in his submission email and by djp in his writeup, I think its only fair that people reading reviews are aware that it does not "stick to the genre conventions", and are not in for a letdown, like I was. Once again though, if this really is a "praise forum" and not a "reviews forum", then I'm sorry. My intention was not to discourage PR. On the contrary, I want to encourage him to better himself. There is nothing wrong with being true to the genre.

I don't want to be a hater. This is a pretty interesting arrangement of the source, and I love the source tune. But this is not trance. Maybe its OCtRance. Production is not very trancy. Progression is not really either. Decent mix, subpar style adaptation. Definitely far from "White Skies" (which was a great mix and a fantastic style adaptation), and makes me feel bad for Siamey. Not PR's fault at all. He seems to have brought the people of OCR exactly what they are looking for. I just like my dance music to sound like dance music that it claims to be. Call it a pet peeve.

Great job. Loved this mix and the approach and style are rather original. Execution is great as well. Thumbs up!

Definitely sucks to hear this. bLiNd is probably one of the most popular and recognizable mixers on the site, with a very promising future in music. He has inspired myself and many others. Best wished, and get well soon! We need more trance here!

I really like this. I will definitely be following this mix. And Skrypo could definitely add some sick drummage to this piece (just listen to Back 2 Skala). Although I do think that your drums show a lot of promise and could be great with some variation.

I like all the 303 stuff going on in there. Sure, the soundscape gets a little cluttered when the melody comes in and its hard to make it out, but you can work on that and balance it out better. Now, what you need to improve are your drums, the samples are just all wrong for the style imho. Then again, don't just listen to me, get a little more feedback.

Daaayyymn! This is some sick stuff Skrypo! Love it! Drums sound orgasmic, as usual. Rhodes and all the other elements come together really well in this piece. Very clever use of vocal samples. All I can say is - MORE!!!

Injin, great points all around. This is exactly why it is pointless to argue about effectiveness of traditional martial arts in here - people who practice them are so indoctrinated by their senseis that they will defend it as if it were their religion. And I guess in a way it is, they find empowerment and comfort there. I am not going to waste my time here anymore. People with sober minds already know that MMA is called the ultimate form of fighting for a reason. And I am not going to argue over the internet with deluded disciples of an antiquated chimera of philosophy, tradition, nationalism, and hand-to-hand combat.