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Everything posted by Arcana
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OCR01344 - Xenogears "Chasing the Phoenix"
Arcana replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
It's been like 15 years since this was released. I still think it holds up. Interestingly, it's not due to the samples - I think sample quality's improved since this has been posted, and mixing techniques have kind of moved ahead as well. To me the composition itself still stands out, though. For me, there's so much tension here, so much emotional weight. There's contrasting elements from the immediate bombastic brass to the quiet descending moments and then it all picks up again. I listened to it and didn't realize it, but I had been holding my breath. It feels like extremely intense film music. It feels like it's designed to bring you along for a really tumultuous ride. There's stuff I can learn from here with general "tension and release" perspective. Also, yes, there's tons of percussion. It's not meant to emulate "real life" and yet it comes together. That I think is a feat of mixing in itself. GrayLightning was a genius and a total class act. Miss you dude. -
I went through this debate myself around March replacing the exact same set of headphones (AKG K240s). I didn't have a chance to audition a lot of headphones and kind of went in only doing some research. Here's my table: Beyerdynamic DT 880 Pro ($170). Bright sound profile AKG K712 ($290). Bright sound profile Audio Technica ATH-R70x ($350). Scooped sound profile Sennheiser HD600 ($330). Flat sound profile Sennheiser HD650 ($370). Flat, bass sound profile Shure SRH1840 ($500). Flat sound profile I limited my headphones to open-backed only. I discounted closed-back headphones (which limits options quite a bit; there are a lot of good closed-back headphones that aren't that expensive). From all of the readings that I did, the Beyerdynamic and AKGs were pretty bright in the midrange. Audio Technica was well-rated but the comfort was supposedly so-so. Sennheiser HD600 was apparently the most flat and balanced of the lot. I eventually went for the Sennheiser HD650 because they're more bassy and really popular in EDM. I went with those instead of the much cheaper Massdrop HD6xx because I wanted the higher-quality construction and durability. Apparently the Massdrop HD6xx (which is only $220, but you need to do a group buy) is the same, sound-wise, as the HD650.
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OCR01415 - Final Fantasy VI "Greater Alchemic Patchwork"
Arcana replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
It's been maybe fifteen years now since this song was published. I listened to it when it first hit OC ReMix and I came back to it now because I'm working on a song with some polyrhythms and a vision of a 9/4 section hit my brain and I realized (after a little digging) that it was this song I was hearing. The comments talk a lot about the production quality and the cacophony and all of that, but the real thing is that the song was memorable, and interesting, and eye-opening. There's unexpected stuff, choices that make you raise an eyebrow, and overall it requires a little bit of guessing as to what the composer intended at times. The fact that after you listen to some part of this song and have a strong reaction to it, though, makes this something of a classic. -
1. recruiting Voices of Mars - Carole and Tuesday Zine
Arcana replied to starla's topic in Recruit & Collaborate!
Good luck recruiting for this! Unfortunately, I'm not familiar with the source material at all, but I think I heard about this anime a while ago (and never followed up). -
OCR04057 - Final Fantasy VII "With Heart and Soul"
Arcana replied to Liontamer's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
I don't always log into OCReMix but when I do, it's to post on a Sir_NutS track and his collaborator Sadorf. Great breakbeat stuff. I love the time change in the middle. Great quality. -
OCR03809 - Darkwing Duck "Playtime's Over"
Arcana replied to Liontamer's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
Ha I just heard from jarski about this. This is great. It's bouncy, it's got swing, it's groovy. It doesn't sound too bassy or anything to me. Keep bringing that energy! -
I don't normally participate in PRC but I really like Splatoon 2 so I had to make a song for this one. I'll leave out other comments about the song until after voting's done.
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OCR00209 - Legend of Zelda "The Music of My Groin"
Arcana replied to m68030's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
I came here just to post that I remember this song, I enjoy it (even if it's more for the memory of its existence than actually listening it) and that my life has been enriched by this song. I'm really glad that OCR didn't remove this song due to lack of arrangement or lack of quality or anything else like this, because this song really is a big part of the site's history. Listening to someone play the new Zelda DS game as I type. -
A crowdfunding site for ongoing patronage, rather than big projects
Arcana replied to Arcana's topic in General Discussion
This does seem a little like charity, but there are many artists out there who are very solid and produce frequently. Besides, if Kickstarter's shown us anything, it's that people out there are willing to pay a lot of money for nothing already. -
I heard of this today and thought that some members of this community might be interested in checking it out. I haven't personally used it (neither as a patron nor an artist) so I don't know how well the model works, but it's a very new service and might be worth checking out for members of this community, given the community's general interest in independent artists and bands. It's called Patreon http://www.patreon.com It is basically kind of like KickStarter, but more about ongoing support rather than supporting a big huge project with a deliverable. So rather than giving $20 or $40 with the intention of getting some big album when it's done, you're giving $1 or $10 as a "thank you, keep doing cool stuff" to the artist. Here's an article explaining some of the concepts behind the idea as well from the founder: http://www.techdirt.com/blog/casestudies/articles/20130510/00083123031/cool-new-platform-supporting-artists-patreon-jack-conte.shtml Once again, I haven't actually used this service but I thought it might be of interest to this community. If you do try it out and there are good things or bad things you should definitely let me know and keep us posted.
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OCR02699 - Final Fantasy VI "The Impresario"
Arcana replied to djpretzel's topic in ReMix Reviews & Comments
This song is an instant classic and will be talked about for years to come. -
OCRA-0040 - Final Fantasy VI: Balance and Ruin
Arcana replied to zircon's topic in Album Reviews & Comments
Huge congratulations to you all. This is a massive win for the community, for the artists and arrangers, and especially for the listener fans of FF6. It's probably not an understatement to claim that the music video remix/arrangement scene wouldn't be as big as it is without FF6 being released in its day. -
Looking to buy a pair of stereo monitoring speakers
Arcana replied to ectogemia's topic in Music Composition & Production
I bought a pair of Mackie HR624s from a pawn shop for about the price you asked. Rokit KRK 8s tend to get good reviews as middle-of-the-road monitors, I would have bought those if I didn't get the Mackies. The bigger drivers will help with the bass, 6" can be a little light on the bass side. As for monitors vs. headphones, I used to mix on headphones, but mixing on monitors is just... well, more fun in my opinion. But when I'm doing precise mixdowns, I'll A/B my mixes on both headphones and monitors and adjust. -
We had a HUGE turnout this time. For those concerned about the length of the listening parties, don't worry about that - such a turnout really happens about once in every hundred compos.
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OHC 200 listening party ON NOW!
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thread bump. BTW I still have those GBA Golden Sun games for sale, I'll be willing to entertain offers
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I'm a Mac user, if you want me to I can make a project with these presets and just kind of play them so you know what they kind of sound like. Then you can go find equivalents for Windows. But PM me and remind me to do it this weekend or I might forget!
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I should set a five year plan to get an FFT mixpost up under my name or something.
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I still want to remix a song from this game. I've been put down for "Battle on the Bridge" but it's on hold for now until I gain mad skillz. There's a big problem, though. The soundtrack is complicated, diverse, and quite advanced and it's really, really difficult for a noob like me to even make something that'll be comparable to the original track. The soundtrack is intimidating!
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Does writing music scare you?
Arcana replied to Sam Ascher-Weiss's topic in Music Composition & Production
If there's something that doing One Hour Compos have taught me, it's that someone out there will find even the weirdest crap that you make interesting in some way. In that respect it is encouraging to be able to go back and fix things up. Unfortunately I have also been told to "start over" a few times (mostly when trying to do remixes for album projects) which is pretty discouraging but that's why album directors exist - they're there to make the hard calls and you as a musician have to accept that sometimes. -
Tutorial: How to make sounds wider and fuller
Arcana replied to Ryan Jobson's topic in Music Composition & Production
posting in here so I can refer to this later. I'm a Logic Pro user too so props for that. -
Does writing music scare you?
Arcana replied to Sam Ascher-Weiss's topic in Music Composition & Production
Writing music isn't that scary, but listening to it after you've written it is the scary part! bum bum TSSSSS
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