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

Brandon Strader

By Brandon Strader,
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MindWanderer Proficient

MindWanderer

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Reviewz0rz!

  • Barrett vs. Amarant: Both sources are characterized by a sort of meandering melody with a lot of "white space" in between, which means they go well together but picking out individual pieces of melody is tricky, especially when they're at all liberally arranged. I usually treat source usage as the most important factor in these things, but this time that's hard.
    • The Only Uncertain Thing is I worked as hard as anyone!: Nice soundscape, good epic buildup. Balance is off, the melody is sometimes buried. Good effort at trying to make the brass sound decent, but it's hard and this isn't there. Pretty good job of making use of those minimalist-ish melodies.
    • Gun-Armed Bandit:Soundscape is lacking in the low end, and the instruments are kind of crummy. An exposed solo instrument in the intro needs to be really, really strong to work, and this isn't. Horse-clopping transition from ethnic to 9-bit kind of comes out of nowhere. However, the arrangement under all those production issues is actually pretty good.

[*]Kain vs. Beatrix: I thought these two sources would go together really nicely, having similar scale and melody usage (if different time signatures), and a catchy hook, but clearly both remixers had a hard time.

  • Skies aren't for Us: There are a few dissonant notes that really leap out at me. Interpretation of Kain's theme is pretty liberal, I have a hard time hearing it even knowing that it's there. Beatrix's theme underruns it really well, though. Overall a little repetitive. Great production, though.
  • Loss of Sorrow: Fun noodling with Beatrix's theme in 4/4. Accompaniment and bass sound oddly incompatible with the melody, which is quiet at times. Once again, Kain's theme is hard to hear--the notes are there, the first loop through, but the beat is heavily modified to the point where even listening for it, it took me two tries to catch it. And then the second time through it's arranged and even harder to pick out. I always advise people to put in one "straight" use of a theme somewhere in their mix, preferably early on, so people can train their ears as to what to listen for to catch the more liberal runs through.

[*]Freya vs. Sazh: Sazh's theme is a bitch.

  • Side Effects of Afro Include Memory Loss: Very quiet. Using Freya's theme as a bridge worked reasonably well, and I can't say I blame you for not integrating the two themes any better than that. Really long into and outro. Also very monotonous, no change-ups to be found; these two facts combined make for an unfortunately boring remix.
  • SazhaFreyaSazh: Good integration, better sound quality. That sax is really horrible, though, sounds synthetic and grainy. Overall sounds really low-fi--I don't know if that's intentional, to sound like an old jazz recording, but without tape or record hiss it just sounds bad. The arrangement is actually pretty good given Sazh to work with.

[*]Basch vs. Vivi: Once you pick out Basch's melody, it's actually pretty similar to Vivi's. Lots of possibilities here.

  • Fulminating Darkness: Interesting stringed instrument in the intro, I can't place it. In the intro it sounds great, but when it returns it has a terrible EQ problem. Beautiful rock ballad thing going on. Good use of the sources, they really do sound like they belong together.
  • Unfinished Wizardry: Wow, this is loud, especially that bass. Sounds like a hell of a lot of clipping. I don't really hear any melody. And... yeah, that's about it.

[*]Locke vs. Lenna: Really similar melodies here, if different energy levels, and it helps that they for once are on the same console with similar instrumentation.

  • LOCKEDUPLENNA: I'm... really just not sure what to make of this. Some interesting and creative, if unpleasant, sound usage, but is there supposed to be a melody here somewhere?
  • She Stole His Heart... Then His Wallet: Lead viola sounds pretty artificial, and really brings down an otherwise solid mix. Interesting in a good way twists on the melodies, right in that sweet spot where recognizable meets novel. I'm guessing this is Lenna multiclassing into "Treasure Hunter" rather than "Thief?" Good transitions between the low- and high-energy sections, much better than my attempts to do the same.

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theshaggyfreak Newbie

theshaggyfreak

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Good integration, better sound quality. That sax is really horrible, though, sounds synthetic and grainy. Overall sounds really low-fi--I don't know if that's intentional, to sound like an old jazz recording, but without tape or record hiss it just sounds bad. The arrangement is actually pretty good given Sazh to work with.

I did want it to sound a bit more on the old side and I agree that giving it a more 'tape' sound would help in that respect. I also agree on the sax sound as it does clash with the vibe of the rest of the piece. I have XPRTNovice already lay down some real sax tracks and it helps out tremendously but I didn't get that mixed in in time for the contest. As far as giving it more of a tape sound, I think I may just have to run it through my reel to reel deck to dirty it up a bit.

ShaggyFreak, your track is in 11/8??? Whoa.... dat groove!

It switches back and forth from 5/4 and 6/4 with a fairly quick tempo around 180.

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theshaggyfreak Newbie

theshaggyfreak

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I think you should adjust the mix before running it through the tape reel, but that is an AWESOME idea. I might give you some thoughts later on, after the round is over.

A lot of the low-fi sound that you're hearing is mostly from the organ. There are things that I can do mix wise that give it a bit more life, though. :) I already have some ideas on that myself.

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Garpocalypse Newbie

Garpocalypse

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Just to make things even more confusing :) what are the chances that fallen characters can be brought in as guest characters for the people who survive the round?

i.e. Your theme+ 1 Guest Character's Theme VS. Opponent's Theme?

A guest character can only be used one time and must have been defeated in a previous round.

A guest character cannot make up more than 30% (or whatever) of the total remix.

A Guest Character's third condition. To be figured out. Maybe.

Just to add a small twist to future rounds.

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GrapplingHook Newbie

GrapplingHook

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Reviewz0rz!

  • Locke vs. Lenna: Really similar melodies here, if different energy levels, and it helps that they for once are on the same console with similar instrumentation.
    • LOCKEDUPLENNA: I'm... really just not sure what to make of this. Some interesting and creative, if unpleasant, sound usage, but is there supposed to be a melody here somewhere?

We didn't get to the melody because this was incredibly unfinished. I was gonna have Locke's theme come in piece by piece, going from highly distorted to very clear, which would "energize" Lenna's theme and there'd be some back and forth before they melded toward the end.

Even if I'd had the time, I'm not sure I could've done it, but there you go. The part that exists is scraps of Lenna's theme trying to surface and being unable, and the very beginning of distorted Locke popping in.

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HoboKa Rising Star

HoboKa

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at first glance, i think this matchup will be really fun! seems like the two would make an interesting matchup. as i get into mixing though, ill have to see.

If i beat hoboka, that would mean i beat a posted ReMixer in direct competition.

tumblr_lt6wpdp8S51qctwb3o1_500.gif

A posted remixer who needed to piggyback a better one to get posted. Your chances are higher than you think, but that doesn't mean I won't throw down with the best of it. Better put your best effort into it boi :tomatoface:

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Arrow Newbie

Arrow

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Side Effects of Afro Include Memory Loss: Very quiet. Using Freya's theme as a bridge worked reasonably well, and I can't say I blame you for not integrating the two themes any better than that. Really long into and outro. Also very monotonous, no change-ups to be found; these two facts combined make for an unfortunately boring remix.

I appreciate the honesty man. I knew submitting it that it suffered from some serious problems that I wouldn't really be able to fix without an overhaul, not helped by putting this together at basically the last minute. At that point, I was just satisfied that I at least got something in and that it wasn't the most horrible thing in the world.

I will note the quietness was unintended. That was a result of me being a relative n00b at mixing with modern DAWs as opposed to using notation software for making GM MIDIs as I used to, and not thinking to normalize my track compared to volume levels in most other music. It's supposed to be significantly louder. Since it's far too late to resubmit, I'd just advise people to turn up the volume on their MP3 players for the time being. *shrug*

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Tuberz McGee Newbie

Tuberz McGee

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[*]She Stole His Heart... Then His Wallet: Lead viola sounds pretty artificial, and really brings down an otherwise solid mix. Interesting in a good way twists on the melodies, right in that sweet spot where recognizable meets novel. I'm guessing this is Lenna multiclassing into "Treasure Hunter" rather than "Thief?" Good transitions between the low- and high-energy sections, much better than my attempts to do the same.

Thanks man. I tried my best! :D

But yeah, it's actually just a solo violin.

I should really learn to play the damned thing so I can record stuff like that easier.

That, or just talk to all of the Violin majors at my university to help me out. :P

The problem being that I'm FAR too arrogant to ask for help! Haha.

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