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OCR01081 - Final Fantasy VI "Anthem of Exile"


djpretzel
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YES! Its been a while since FF6 has had a remix! And this time, its Figaro Style. I like the use of brass and how he did the piece.

First, it was classical sounding. Around 1:45, the drums kick in for a jazzy style. Later, the organs come rolling in providing a classic rock style that just rocks. Another great remix from JigginJonT that uses great instrumentation.

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This is beautiful stuff... while I've heard better trumpet playing from people who make a living off the trumpet (and not on the street corner) this sounds quite nice. And it's been a while since I've heard this theme... I love it! FF6 had really great music, and so many tracks...

OCR has lots of FF6, but still hasn't covered nearly all the tracks yet. So many to go... and all worthy of mixing.

The organ solo is definitely worth the effort I can tell you put into it. It rocks. ROCKS man. And back to the trumpets afterwards... some of your better playing right there! Oooh, this is nice.

The balancing is perfect, the actual mixing went well... a worthy submission, I say. Worthy indeed.

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I'll be blunt. There might be many of you that like it, and to you, probably I'm just some 'purist wacko.' But I cannot enjoy the Figaro Castle theme when the trumpet's parts are not played loudly, proudly like the originals were. This is a declaration of grandeur, a statement of freedom, this 'Anthem' of Figaro, and playing it like some damned jazz piece feels like a tresspass against the memory of the original.

Now, I know I sound harsh, and really, I'd totally be a position to tolerate, and perhaps even appreciate this level of experimentation if there was at least one remix that was a vanilla orchestration of the Figaro theme.

So, good job, but I can't find myself liking it more than the harsh trumpets of the original MIDI.

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giving it a second listen through now. the beginning really bugs the crap out of me. the piano barely gets an intro and the trumpets just cut in like that? sure its merely the first couple seconds, but thats terrible. no offense.

okay, i just can't get used to it. too much going on. o.O since i'm the first to complain it can't bug anyone else terribly. but the piano seems to complex to go with the beautiful noise the trumpets are making. i love the trumpet playing so much, and the piano.... isn't simple enough to go with it. >.o dunno.

1:54, everything goes into lounge singer mode. Beautiful right to the end of the song man. the complex piano suddenly sounds in place, but because the trumpets aren't the focus anymore. and even when the focus picks back up to the trumpet, not even remotely complex piano playing in the background, simplistic how it shoulda been in my opinion for the beginning.

Edgar and Sabin is my favorite theme in this game(well really coin song, but y'know). but up till 1:54 it just bugs the crap out of me. Specially that intro. >.<; terrible. TERRIBLE!

i'd give it 3 and a half out of 5 stars.

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i seem to remeber this posted some time ago as a WIP..

since then i can clearly tell you've cleaned it, polished it, and made it run much smoother, very nice, i love it.

yeah man, thats exactly the thought I had myself. I usually dont venture into the reviews forum, but I figured I would just stop by and say how impressed I am with the transformation this song went through. I listened to the WIP and the OC_remix versions back to back, and the difference is astounding.

good job mr Jon T.

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Very creative, ambitious remix. I absolutely love that organ solo -- you've got some good chops to be able to play all of this live.

The recording quality and processing are excellent. Unlike many remixes that include a lot of live instruments, I can "forget" that this is live while I enjoy its organic quality.

Arrangement is really excellent, with a lot of variety and good transitions.

I feel bad bitching about stuff when I know this was hard to do, but the intonation on the trumpet really hurt this one for me. I would have liked this 100% better if you'd gone the extra mile to get the trumpets in tune with each other as well as the rest of the music. My youth orchestra conductor used to always get on my case to practice everything with a tuner -- otherwise your ear gets used to how it sounds when you play it out of tune and you never fix the problem.

Good stuff with all the creativity I've come to expect from JigginJonT.

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Very creative, ambitious remix. I absolutely love that organ solo -- you've got some good chops to be able to play all of this live.

The recording quality and processing are excellent. Unlike many remixes that include a lot of live instruments, I can "forget" that this is live while I enjoy its organic quality.

Arrangement is really excellent, with a lot of variety and good transitions.

I feel bad bitching about stuff when I know this was hard to do, but the intonation on the trumpet really hurt this one for me. I would have liked this 100% better if you'd gone the extra mile to get the trumpets in tune with each other as well as the rest of the music. My youth orchestra conductor used to always get on my case to practice everything with a tuner -- otherwise your ear gets used to how it sounds when you play it out of tune and you never fix the problem.

Good stuff with all the creativity I've come to expect from JigginJonT.

I agree totally. The ideas presented are wonderful, and it's a wonderful piece that you wrote, but the trumpets swtich between sounding wonderful and making me cringe. But everything else it top notch. For a piece that switches styles so often, you really put it together well.

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I'll be blunt. There might be many of you that like it, and to you, probably I'm just some 'purist wacko.' But I cannot enjoy the Figaro Castle theme when the trumpet's parts are not played loudly, proudly like the originals were. This is a declaration of grandeur, a statement of freedom, this 'Anthem' of Figaro, and playing it like some damned jazz piece feels like a tresspass against the memory of the original.

Now, I know I sound harsh, and really, I'd totally be a position to tolerate, and perhaps even appreciate this level of experimentation if there was at least one remix that was a vanilla orchestration of the Figaro theme.

So, good job, but I can't find myself liking it more than the harsh trumpets of the original MIDI.

That's funny... I liked this song because it strayed from the original while still sounding good. Anyone can take a midi of the original and give it better instruments, but it takes a true master to reinvent the song in a unique way. Ah well, I guess different people have different tastes.

Anyway, it's nice to hear some real instruments. I'm not an audiophile or anything, but I don't think this would have been nearly as good without them. I've been listening to this song on repeat for a while, which is something I rarely do.

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I am impressed. Fantastic transitions, incredible playing, clever arrangement, and all this without a sequencer. Alas, as is the curse of being a drummer on OCR, the drums in this song make me wince when they come in. Occasionally I can't help but notice the total lack of dynamics on them, but the organ solo mostly covers them up. Speaking of which, that has to be one of the most bitchin' rock organ solos I've ever heard. Granted, I mostly hear Hammond organ solos, but the power of a B3 is not to be underestimated. It should also be said that your trumpet work is fantastic as well. The way the two play back and forth is just awesome. All around quality work, John. So far, you haven't let me down. I'm looking forward to your next work. :nicework:

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Jazz? Sounds like it.

It sounds like Coin Song with trumpet, cool :)

Who the hell played that organ?! Gimme the score for it!

Very refreshing to hear something 'real' for once.

Can tell that guitar was Yamaha brand. I've heard thousands of these sounds from my piano tuition center.

Great work btw :D

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First let me start off by saying I have been visiting OC Remix for about 2 yrs now and I browse the forums quite often but never has a remix persuaded me enough to register to the forums and comment on it. Well, obviously, this one has. I am a HUGE FF 6 fan. It was the first rpg I fell in love with (FF4 was too hard for me at the time). I was 7 when I started playing them. I was also 7 when I started playing trumpet. I am 18 now. The trumpet work on this song is beautiful. Its not that easy to keep a trumpet in perfect tune mind you. We have 3 valves. The clarinet and other instruments have a crapload that will give them much better intonation. With trumpet you must hear what you are going to play before you do. Trumpet is one of the hardest instruments to master because of it. The organ work was superb. It really caught me by surprise. The guitar was a very nice touch (I also play guitar). This is by far my favorite oc remix and I have downloaded nearly 300. Congrats on the work. Its amazing.

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I really like the fact that Jon played the stuff himself. I wish I had wind talent. Anyway, I play some jazz piano (and keyboard) myself and I really don't think too much of the organ solo. Many people were praising it (and I'm not going to down it) but I really thought it wasn't up to Jon's standards. There is far too much reverb for half of it and it isn't long enough to get enough emotion in. It's like high school jazz band with the ol' 12-bar blues solo, "Ok...now SOLO! Ok you're done!". The piece is well arranged, and the intruments are played well; but in terms of impovsation, I enjoyed Live from the Yggdrasil much more.

Overall, well done. But I'd really like to hear something...more.

Too bad we're on opposite sides of the country. Jon would be a fun person to collaborate with.

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