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Final Fantasy Crystal Clash - Congratulations to Tuberz McGee and Eino Keskitalo!


Brandon Strader
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Both songs had great production and I enjoyed listening to them quite a bit. I ended up choosing Eino, though, since his song felt a bit more cohesive to my ears. I felt that Tuberz choice of a wide instrumentation and song length made things feel a little scatter brained. Both songs are amazing, though, and each mixer should be proud of their work!

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Good luck Eino! :D

May we call this round 'The Final Confrontation of Men Who Pretend to be Ladies on the Internet'.

I'm completely cool with that. Yeah, good luck! The votes are 1-1 right now! :D I hope lots of people listen in & vote.

I should mention I used Impact Soundworks' free Cinematic Drums samples, and timaeus' Just Plain Glitched sample pack for the percussion in my track.

--Eino

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I ended up choosing Eino, though, since his song felt a bit more cohesive to my ears.

Oh god, here we go... :)

I feel like I must be the only person on OCR who has absolutely no idea what that means. Can someone enlighten me on the specifics before I lose my shit over it? :<

Downloading the final round now. Light bracket represent!

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Oh god, here we go... :)

I feel like I must be the only person on OCR who has absolutely no idea what that means. Can someone enlighten me on the specifics before I lose my shit over it? :<

Downloading the final round now. Light bracket represent!

Well, I felt that it had one complete idea to it. That's what I meant by cohesive. Tuberz song seemed a bit too 'epic' for my taste.

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Well, I felt that it had one complete idea to it. That's what I meant by cohesive. Tuberz song seemed a bit too 'epic' for my taste.

Is this what you mean to say? Usually cohesiveness is how well the themes are used together so that they flow, and it's not jarring when you go from one part to the next. It's not a measurement of epicness. :tomatoface:

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Is this what you mean to say? Usually cohesiveness is how well the themes are used together so that they flow, and it's not jarring when you go from one part to the next. It's not a measurement of epicness. :tomatoface:

*shrug* I admit I'm not the best at describing how I feel about a particular song. I often use words in my own 'unique' way...which doesn't make it right. Oh, well.

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Yeah, Tuberz's entry had a lot of great ideas crammed into one mix, and while the transitions did always carry part of the instrumentation forward while changing other parts, the overall impression was that it couldn't settle on an approach. It did, however, make much more recognizable use of the sources.

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lol

My bad. I pretty much tried to fit as many different genres in my mix as possible.

It was my way of alluding to the 'Job Class' system of FFV mixed with the Sphere Grid of FFX.

I swear to god I musta been hella trippin' to think that my music would express that whatsoever. :P Haha

Either way, it's been an honour to even take part in this, not to mention getting this far!

You're all winners for participating. :D

Also, lots of sleepless nights = HOLD UP I HAVE A NEW IDEA LET'S CRAM IT IN THERE GOGOGO

My computer may or may not have had a really difficult time handling the project file. Heh

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Yeah, Tuberz's entry had a lot of great ideas crammed into one mix, and while the transitions did always carry part of the instrumentation forward while changing other parts, the overall impression was that it couldn't settle on an approach.

It's a jooooourneeyyyy, maaaannnn.. and I enjoyed the journey, me! I felt it reprised themes and stuff enough to feel cohesive throughout. The finale didn't feel conclusive though. The chip sounds could've been introduced earlier too. Also there was also a section that was a bit meandering in the writing, wasn't feeling that 100%. Overall I liked the piece very much and I really appreciate the ambitiousness of the arrangement!

It did, however, make much more recognizable use of the sources.

I would have thought the usage of Lenna's theme in my arrangement to be obvious (of course, it's obvious to me...), but Lulu's theme is less prominent. From Lulu's the descending plucked background string from the source plays almost throughout on the violin to the right, though it's adjusted to major key. The other prominent part is the lead from the B part playing over the second "verse". The organ also plays the first few bars of the A part melody here and there, but it's pretty buried (and again shifted into major key).

The mix is pretty messy (I didn't have the time for a separate mixing phase and I also crammed the piece quite full of stuff), and the writing is often clumsy, especially when trying to move the harmony in the B part of Lenna's theme. I should learn me some theory and stuff..

I focused on the Lenna's theme since I felt I've pretty much had enough of Lulu's already. :D

--Eino

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I would have thought the usage of Lenna's theme in my arrangement to be obvious (of course, it's obvious to me...), but Lulu's theme is less prominent. From Lulu's the descending plucked background string from the source plays almost throughout on the violin to the right, though it's adjusted to major key. The other prominent part is the lead from the B part playing over the second "verse".
Lenna's is obvious for about 30 seconds' worth, and since I know to listen for it, I can pick it up for about another 60 seconds' worth, heavily arranged (30 following the "obvious" part of the theme, 30 later). Lulu's theme isn't really used as melody at all.
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Voting for your competitors, classy :nicework:

So after a little thought, I think I will do another FFCC in the future. After doing this one though, I discovered a bunch of "problem areas" to improve on for the next one.. Basic things like:

  • We need 2 weeks instead of 1
  • Don't limit it to character themes, include ALL FF themes
  • Possibly make mixing competitor themes optional (the focus would be on simply making the better mix)
  • Either less emphasis on "graphical stuff", or have it ready in advance
  • Choose a less confusing time than "midnight".
  • Rewrite/make a new first post. Don't borrow DarkeSword's text anymore. It's great but as a compo it needs to be its own thing.

Just a few ideas. Open to more suggestions. No current plans of when the next FFCC will occur.

As for the current FFCC, keep the votes coming! It's too close right now! I see how hard it is to vote though, both competitors turned in amazing remixes.

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Voting for your competitors, classy :nicework:

So after a little thought, I think I will do another FFCC in the future. After doing this one though, I discovered a bunch of "problem areas" to improve on for the next one.. Basic things like:

  • We need 2 weeks instead of 1
  • Don't limit it to character themes, include ALL FF themes
  • Possibly make mixing competitor themes optional (the focus would be on simply making the better mix)
  • Either less emphasis on "graphical stuff", or have it ready in advance
  • Choose a less confusing time than "midnight".
  • Rewrite/make a new first post. Don't borrow DarkeSword's text anymore. It's great but as a compo it needs to be its own thing.

Just a few ideas. Open to more suggestions. No current plans of when the next FFCC will occur.

As for the current FFCC, keep the votes coming! It's too close right now! I see how hard it is to vote though, both competitors turned in amazing remixes.

Just like to add timing. I really regret dropping out but the competition got going right at the worst part of the semester. I don't know much about the rotation of the various competitions but early winter might be a good time depending if the SZRC is going to keep it's biyearly schedule.

I definitely want to compete in this again!

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Voting for your competitors, classy :nicework:

So after a little thought, I think I will do another FFCC in the future. After doing this one though, I discovered a bunch of "problem areas" to improve on for the next one.. Basic things like:

  • We need 2 weeks instead of 1
  • Don't limit it to character themes, include ALL FF themes
  • Possibly make mixing competitor themes optional (the focus would be on simply making the better mix)
  • Either less emphasis on "graphical stuff", or have it ready in advance
  • Choose a less confusing time than "midnight".
  • Rewrite/make a new first post. Don't borrow DarkeSword's text anymore. It's great but as a compo it needs to be its own thing.

  • Yes. It'll help those with... well... college duties.
  • ___
  • I think that would help differentiate this compo from another. A lot of the compos I've seen are just "Person A vs. Person B".
  • ___
  • ___
  • ___


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> We need 2 weeks instead of 1

The advantage of a 1-week deadline is, with two brackets, you get one on, one off. The disadvantage is tighter deadlines. I think 1 week worked better in the past, because more of the competitors were able to make something good in a few hours, but most current competitors need longer now.

> Don't limit it to character themes, include ALL FF themes

Agreed. Another possible idea is to make thematic suggestions at the beginning, e.g. fast, slow, comical, X-on-the-floor, etc. I feel like people really struggled with mixing two very disparate themes, and while it was an interesting challenge, I feel like the overall quality suffered.

> Possibly make mixing competitor themes optional (the focus would be on simply making the better mix)

I disagree with this for one reason: one awesome thing about this general compo format is that it forces you to try different things. If you already have several ideas for a Relm remix, that's great, but a lot of people get inspired by their opponent's source.

I definitely think some sort of external restriction needs to take place. It could be a different format, though. For instance, everyone could make a love theme or a battle theme based on their source (and if their source already is a theme of that source, have a backup genre or just make it a wildcard round for them). And in this case, it wouldn't have to be a single-elimination tournament, but could be more like the Gauntlets, or just simply have everyone go every round for the duration.

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Ever thought about NOT having every tourney be a grueling, grinding marathon that interest drops off halfway though? You could have a smaller tourney, would be over quicker, another one could be held sooner with fresh people.

Not singling you out in particular, it's just every compo seems to be one off like PRC, or a marathon. Nothing in between.

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Congratulations!!

The winner of the first Final Fantasy Crystal Clash is...

TUBERZ MCGEE!!

But we are all winners, really!

The winner of the $5 is: Brandon Strader. If Tuberz McGee and Eino Keskitalo would be so kind as to PM me their paypal information, I will send you both a bill for $2.50!

Just kidding! You both get $5!

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