Palpable Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 (edited) Remix Submission: MP3 Link: WAV Link: Contact Information: FFmusic DJ Haroon Piracha https://soundcloud.com/ffmusicdj userid = 4324 Title: Ragnarok Remixers: Geoffrey Taucer and FFMusic Dj Game: Xenogears Source tracks: Omen, One Who Bares Fangs at God, Awakening, Bonds of Sea and Fire Taucer says: When I first made a WIP for this idea, it was intended for the Xenogears project, which tells you how long I've been sitting on this idea. I didn't finish it because I couldn't get the "Awakening" section to sound right; no matter what I tried, it didn't sound harsh enough or intense enough, and eventually the mix just fell on the backburner. Fast forward to a month or so ago. After finishing up "Dire on the Rocks," Haroon and I wanted to do a longer mix in a different style. I mentioned that I had a WIP for a metal Xenogears medley, but I no longer had the project tracks, so we had to start from scratch. When we got to the "Awakening" section, I told Haroon to just go crazy with it, and he absolutely knocked it out of the park. He also did a fantastic job of processing the vocals, making me sound like a deep Gregorian chorus in the "Omen" sections and a Slavic women's choir in the "Awakening" section. FFMusic Dj says: I like music like this, I like the ability to make music that extend on for longer than a couple of minutes and Taucer had the vision and the drive to get this to extend. When Taucer showed me the song, I didn't know what I was getting into, but I jumped in on the idea of doing some Prog Rock. I learned a lot from the experience. There were many new ideas I had never thought of. Many of the engineering aspects were things I had never done before in music. A lot of tracks are quaded giving a wider sound than I usually produce in my trance remixes. I could not believe some of the vocal effects we got to achieve in this mix, it's remarkable. Keep in mind that besides the roar at the end of the "Awakening" section (which is me), and the female choir patch, the majority of vocals are done by Jeremy, including the vocals in the "Awakening" section. When it comes to the Awakening section, Jeremy just let me do whatever I wanted in the 15/4 timing. The challenge was trying to get a drum pattern going. I'm so happy to have worked on such an awesome mix with such a talented person as Taucer. Couldn't have been possible without his assistance through every inch of this song. Omen - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzhWuriX9Ws One Who Bares Fangs at God - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_dKpeTEBYIA Awakening - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqqNi5_NPe0 Bonds of Sea and Fire - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oFbVhFlqt3k Edited October 7, 2015 by Liontamer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted April 9, 2015 Author Share Posted April 9, 2015 Jeez, this is nuts. So much weird stuff going on in this song, but it maintains a steady direction and ultimately is cohesive enough, I think. The "Bonds of Sea and Fire" is the only section that lost me - it sounds great, but is strange leading from the dubby rock weirdness before it. I did like that you brought back the rock instruments. It helped tie everything together. Really ambitious arrangement, awesome work. The production though... not selling your vision well enough. The "Bonds" section was well-produced, but the harder sections didn't have the same strength. The drum samples were on the weak side, especially the snare, and the guitars never sounded as thick as they should have been. It sounded ok, not awful, but I don't think enough to get over the bar. I would highly, highly recommend taking this to someone who knows rock/metal production a little better to help you with those problem sections. This deserves to get polished and posted. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted May 25, 2015 Share Posted May 25, 2015 Yeah, this arrangement is really great to listen to! I will have to admit that I keep feeling like the gregorian chant sounds too much like english and my brain keeps trying to decipher it, which ultimately is distracting from the song. Not sure if that's just me, though. Vinnie really has this on the head, though, that the heavier sections feel like they aren't having as strong of an impact as they should. I'm going to say that I'm on the other side of the fence that it isn't to the point of bringing it below the bar for me, but I can see this going either way. Good luck on the rest of the vote! YES (bit borderline) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 I'm more or less in agreement. I think some parts of this rock, while other parts feel a bit empty. Obviously you need some more mellow sections to precede the hard hitting sections, but some of the relaxed parts could use more little details. The intro works well, the reverb really creates space, but then some of the interludes just feel empty. I'm not a fan of how the vocals are mixed. They sound like nonsense, which is a bit weird. I think they could work if you pulled them down and made them a bit darker, more atmospheric, I don't want to be able to hear them saying...what? December? Eat member? Other parts of the mix are great. The acoustic guitars sound great. The arrangement is great. I'm gonna lean slightly on the YES side, as in, YES the mix could be better in places and the arrangement has a couple spots that drag, but on the whole this is a really solid piece. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted June 17, 2015 Share Posted June 17, 2015 Yeah, I'll agree with the YES's that the production/mixing isn't optimal. Some of the textures felt dry, IMO, so I see where Palp's coming from on wanting more power here; to me, I think the piece having more spaciousness would help. Also from 1:18-1:51, the original electric guitar writing was just burying the source tune, so I thought the balance should have been tweaked. That said, nothing was actually dragging the production down to a NO level at all, and the arrangement was nothing but excellence. Effective switch to the woodwind lead at 2:49. I liked the rock section at 3:18 and the dubby synths following the source melody was fun; though they sounded pretty lossy, cool cameo of the female vocals at 3:57. Dunno why people felt that section didn't work; I thought it was great, followed by a skillful transition into the folky section at 5:16 and another electric guitar at 6:06. Minor point, but the final drum shot at 6:52 wasn't necessary; sometimes you just need to leave a good winddown alone. There were a lot of substantially different sections in this piece, but like many progressive pieces, the transitions and overall flow were smartly written and effectively presented. Definitely no reason to hold this back. Really varied yet cohesive medley; props for pulling this off! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted June 23, 2015 Share Posted June 23, 2015 Some nice work on this one. Always up for remixers to step out of their comfort zone and do something quite a bit different to what they normally produce. Nice guitar work across the track. The chanting was an interesting addition, but I found it a little repetitive in places. You have a lot of sections in this arrangement, and lots of instrument changes to deal with. Some parts got a little too wacky for me, especially around the midway point with squelchy synth wubbing everywhere. Your transitions aren't too bad. The accordion and flute bits near the end caught me off guard, a cool folky way to start tying up the track, with guitar re-appearing in the last moments to finish the job. Production is not too bad, I'm not hearing deal breaker issues, but some things get a little muffled at times, and the snare gets a little lost in a couple of sections. And while it doesn't factor into the vote, I wish the title was more creative. Overall I'm ok with this one. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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