djpretzel Posted July 11, 2005 Share Posted July 11, 2005 So here we are again, another collaboration between sadorf and me that we would like to see up at ocr. Here are Sadorf's comments: When i originally started a remix of this song, its was because of boredom and the lack of any mixes of it anywhere at that time. Wether or not there are actually more remixes of it anymore now..i have no fuckin clue. I was able to render a few demos, mostly for myself before i completely ran out of ideas for the song. The reason i gave S|r_NutS the souce for the song..i do not remember, but i do know that before i gave him the source, he had never heard any of my demos of it. So all he had to work with was the flp, and nothing else. After I heard one of the demos he put together, i was suprised how similar they were compared to mine. I am glad he was able to keep the feel, and to be able to give the song this much life and a good quality sound. And now my own (S|r_NutS) comments: What I really liked about this song when I first heard what sadorf gave me was the originality and style of the song. Its the ff7 battle theme indeed, but he changed it so it sounds very different, this song, IMHO, a very good definition of a ReMix. So I started working on it. The song was almost finished when sadorf gave it to me, but I though it was a bit simple so I added more layers of melodies, ambience and drums, as well as an ending. Then we submitted it to vgmix and after some time, I decided to fine-tune it up again, taking in account the comments we recieved back then. Now we have a much better product to offer to ocremix, and I think it will be a good addition. This is some kind of mesh of dream trance with hard trance. You won't find a four on the floor beat to jump to, as in most of our mixes, but the pace and the rhythmn is very catchy. Sadorf decided at first to go for a funky drumline and I took that and made it sound more electronica. This song is very old, and I think it was first made in Fruity Loops 3, finished and retouched in Fruity Loops 4, and revised again for OCRemix in Fruity Loops 5. This might be one of the last songs I submit that I have made in Fruity Loops though, so yeah, I hope you all enjoy this fresh take on the FF7 battle Scene Song. The song can be found at: If there are any problems with the link, please contact us via a PM in the OCR Boards. Thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam Ascher-Weiss Posted July 13, 2005 Share Posted July 13, 2005 http://www.tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF7_psf.rar - 110 "Fighting" I was all ready to NO this at first but after a few more listens I was converted. My biggest qualm is the almost constant loudness [i'm choosing not to use the word dynamic] but there are enough contrasting sections like at 2:23 to make up for that... and even if there weren't, there's plenty of music of this nature out there with the same unflinching loudness and it's considered acceptable.. not to mention that I have commited similar offenses on a number of occasions. What first won we over was stuff like 1:42. The lack of low frequencies in the melodic parts here brought out the strength of the delay instrument and clap drum rhythms. The piano and bass re-entrance ruined that for a second until I realized it was being used to set up the more open section at 2:08. That seems to be a constant in this song. There's fullness that starts to feel overwhelming and then just in time things open up giving me some room to breath and showcasing the rhythmic elements of the mix. I love when it happens again at 2:50 with the toms and all that goodness. It's always fun to end with a phased piano! YeS Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 Good intro. The drumkit entering at :14 was kinda plain, but it was a solid pattern and was relegated to the background quickly. I really didn't like how the drums were so loud, let alone the whole mix. It's been a problem I've had with some of Mike's past stuff, so I gotta point out that I think it hurts the piece, and undermines the use of volume to create dynamic contrast. I know its hard trance, but I don't like the way the mixing was handled most times here. The sounds were relatively indistiguishable and poorly seperated during the chorus sections when one particular electrosynth joined in and it seemed like everything mushed together (e.g. 1:10-1:39, 1:53-2:07, 2:36-2:50, 3:04-3:43). The arrangement dragged on a bit as well, but was well alright for the genre, though I would have prefer more variation. As long as you don't pay attention to the repeating piano pattern arranged from the source you can hear other synths involved handling other aspects of arranging "Fighting". Gonna be a hardass again and say NO, looking for the resubmit. I would listen to the clearer sections and think "I'm being too tough on this," but I'd reach the chorus section and be convinced that this could be done with less volume and clutter. I feel it could be done without hindering the approach here, still sounding strong like hard trance and posessing ethereal effects like dream trance, and I could have gone some more melodic variation of some sort within the arrangement. Side note, too bad the phased piano didn't make more of an impact here, though it was indeed a great idea for the ending. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danny B Posted July 30, 2005 Share Posted July 30, 2005 I don't know what else we can ask for in a dance remix. It's got a solid rearrangment with some creative application of the original melody. Overall, it's a pretty effective conversion, with some interesting harmonic choices such as before :44. The song develops in its own unique way, but still presents the content from the original in a deliberate and satisying way. Kind of how ffmusicdj's String Machine uses the original. Rather than just slap the original parts down with a synth or something, it uses them in the new style to enhance the song as a whole. I've got no issues with the production overall, aside from a little bit of a loudness issue. But this kind of music often benefits from that type of mastering, so I can't really penalize for a stylistic decision. Couldn't ask much more out of this genre, and it's executed well. A Textbook YES. -D Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harmony Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 That first drum beat from 0:17-0:29 has that late 80’s vibe; good stuff. For the genre, this arrangement is good. The melodies are played in a relatively straightforward manner but the mix develops and stays fresh, incorporating solid composition with plenty of well executed transitions. I appreciate the effort to create a dance track without the standard omm-tss played throughout. The percussion does a lot of creative things and when we do get the omm-tss from 3:20-3:34 it falls right in line. On the downside, this mix gets awfully cluttered at points (1:12-1:40, 1:54-2:09, …). Combine that with how loudly everything is mixed and it’s not sitting well with me. Why not put some panning distance between the synths and piano during the chorus sections? Don’t let all of your efforts to create interesting and dynamic synths get diminished by having them blend too much with each other. Other than that, the production is fine. Engaging on the whole and I can’t find a big enough reason to stand in this mix’s way. Like Larry I would have liked more melodic variation but it’s not that large of a necessity here. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted July 31, 2005 Share Posted July 31, 2005 This song lacks any kind of punch or intensity. Jump around the song; it's pretty much at the same dynamic level anywhere you go. The arrangement is pretty slapdash too; only a few patterns that are layered indiscriminately throughout the piece. I don't hear any builds or releases. The bassline is very boring. The percussion is good, but the rest of the texture is pretty uninteresting, and a lot of the melodic lines are played using several instruments in unison. I don't think there's anything really remarkable going on here. I'd like to see this go to 6Y if it's going to be accepted, because I really don't think this is over the bar at all yet. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted August 2, 2005 Share Posted August 2, 2005 One thing i'll give to this remix is that the orignial is used creatively. The concept is certainly creative, unfortunately, when considered in and of itself, this song is rather bland. as everyone else has stated, this song has barely any dynamics. the groove is constant and bland. the one or two segments where the groove drops out have akward segues. the ideas, while creative, arent developed. This song is just quite bland. Don't get me wrong, I'm a fan of sadorf and sirnutz, but i've heard a lot better material from both of them. This wouldnt have passed a year ago and it shouldnt pass now. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zykO Posted August 3, 2005 Share Posted August 3, 2005 this one's a tough one because its the actual arrangement idea that makes it bland despite excelling in presentation; in specific, the way the source is used to craft the lead of the track. it essentially took the wind out of the source's sails. one of those funny things. the arrangement, in my mind, is just too boring and that is largely due to the composition - it takes the punch and edge out of the original and murders its dynamic. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zircon Posted August 6, 2005 Share Posted August 6, 2005 I've always thought that Sadorf/Sir Nuts tend to go a little overboard with making their mixes hot and saturated, but I think it's particularly noticeable here. The whole mix is very bright and sizzling - I would have preferred to hear a bass drum that stood out more and lead synths that didn't quite cut through the highs as much. It seemed like basically every sound had tons of high end EQ, from the hats, to synths, to piano, to the clap. At the same time, the stuff below that seemed kind of ignored; there's so much reverb/delay/highend that it drowns out the lower stuff like the bass, kick, and toms which are equally interesting. On a pair of standard computer speakers it doesn't sound quite as bad, but on headphones, it's definitely an issue in my opinion. The synths themselves are well-designed. Nice use of fm7, effects are generally used tastefully. Percussion was good too. A more present bass would have been really nice, though. Arrangement is OK. It keeps focusing on one riff - considering the short length of the original, more time could have been spent developing the other parts of the source. This is clearly an interpretation, but I guess I would have liked to have heard more of the source represented. Finally, structure is sort of mediocre.. mainly because of technical issues actually. Because of the massive level of compression its like everything is on the same dynamic and there's no build or progression. Also, as much as I like breakdowns and interludes, I think the beat could have been more sustained.. it gets interrupted quite a bit. Giving it some time to build up energy would have been nice. Overall, I think this piece shows it's age compared to the current skill level of Sadorf/Sir Nuts. I encourage a resubmit with another look at the mastering and production, and plus maybe a little tweaking of the arrangement/structure. A close call for me, but NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrayLightning Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 This collab version is definitely a lot better sounding. I actually agree with harmony, shna and dan that the arrangement was neat, at the very least at least interpretive. To say anything more against that is personal opinion, and that's fine. My main beef of the mix, like zircon this is all high frequency sizzle. There's not enough attention paid to the lower and middle frequencies. Those high frequency percussion and lead though really kills the mix for me. Lazy, cheap ending though. While I like the arrangement for the most part, the mix felt flat and yeah it tended to drag on at some parts. I like this and almost want to yes it, but the presentation and execution could be worked on more. This needs more than superficial rework. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts