djpretzel Posted January 4, 2005 Share Posted January 4, 2005 To whoever reads this email: I'm submitting a new remix - here's all the info: Remixer name: Colin Stewart (I'm new) Real name: Colin Stewart Email: cjs@sfu.ca Game: Final Fantasy VIII User ID: I don't know what number you're referring to, but my ID is cj_stewart Song: The Extreme Comments: I've always found the final boss theme from FFVIII ("The Extreme") to be incredibly frustrating. The first part of the piece (i.e. the first 90 seconds) is, to me, the most beautiful music that Uematsu has ever written, bar none. But those first 90 seconds are followed by two minutes of ... well, nothing much interesting at all. Half the time that I listen to "The Extreme", I stop playing it at the 90 second mark. I was getting sick of doing this, so I decided to remix it. It's my first remix, and a pretty straightforward one too. In future, I may do another, more complex arrangement of the same piece - it has so much material to work with (I'm surprised no one else has done a remix of it yet). -Colin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Israfel Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 I quite enjoyed this on the whole. I rather doubt it will get passed though, for while there's quite a bit to like here I believe, I can also see many people not caring for this one bit and generally finding the whole thing boring and overly drawn out. But I enjoyed the empty, subdued nature of arrangement. I feel that you did a good job developing the theme in a logical and satisfying way. And its length is justified and aptly handled, in my opinion. Some of the samples distract from the mood a bit, but otherwise I think this is some nice work. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Malcos Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 The violin and string sounds in this are pretty dodgy sounding. I am torn on this one, because although it has atmosphere there are sections that just don't make the cut. The section starting at 2.30 is very empty indeed, and has a lot of silence in it. The last section 4.30 onwards sounds good but again the sounds do let it down a lot, and it feels very laboured, somewhat tiring to listen to by this point. While I like certain elements of it, as a whole piece it's lacking. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted January 5, 2005 Share Posted January 5, 2005 http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 409 "The Extreme" (no effects) The first section felt like a reinstrumented cover of the first 1:19 of the source, and was too conservative. The first 2:23 had the piano base just copied from the original. No deviation at all. Some of the other instruments seemed to be taken from the vox parts of the original, but I won't go as far as saying that. The note progressions on other instruments just seemed too similar to other sections of the original. Then going into the next section at 2:24, the string and brass samples were definitely weak points. From 4:45-5:52, the messy sound combinations and overall shrillness of some of the more spirited sections were low points, and didn't help close things out well. I'd scrap the first minute or so of cover material, especially since your instrumentation is practically the same as the source via the piano and strings. Stick with the rearranged material and work on the believeability of your samples as well as sound balance (in particular the last few minutes, as everything gets cluttered). NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny B Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 Gotta side with the majority on this one. The original, in my opinion, had some badass progressions and crazy rhythmic shit going down. This takes the preliminary going-ons and simplifies them further and with lower sound quality. This music here is not meant, in my opinion, for an entire arrangement. It isn't conclusive. It doesn't "weave a tapestry" of ideas and emotions. It SETS UP a coming storm of emotive and fulfilling music. I don't feel like this conveys a complete musical idea. This is most apparent when the low-note piano drone comes in. It really runs out of steam right here, and I don't get any interest back for the rest of the piece. That's as far as i'll critique on the arrangement side. Concerning sound quality, it's definately got a GM vibe to it. The main problems are vibrato that is distinctly mechanic, reverb-free orchestrations and winds that stagnate quickly, with no kind of envelope or attention to aftertouch. There is definately a bit of good arrangement sense here, in the instrumentation department, mostly - but overall I find that the arrangement (what some would call "notation" ) is too dependant on the original, and a section of the original that is unable to stand on its own. NO -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted January 6, 2005 Share Posted January 6, 2005 the biggest problem with this mix is clearly the sound quality. GM just completely ruins it. It's a ballad and it relies on harmony and beauty rather than complexity. As of yet, the beauty is an issue. I think the arrangement is good, the only slight changes i would make are to add some kind of ambience or low-level strings to the middle section with just piano and violin, and to generally punch up the energy past 4 minutes. i think these changes could be quite easy. The sound quality is definately holding it back. Please get someone to take the midi and rework the samples. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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