OCR00589 - Xenogears "Koiji na Shi no Genchou"

[orkybash]

Xenogears 'Koiji na Shi no Genchou

Not the best mix I've heard, but there's not much to complain about, either. The parts where the melody is present are superb, but it could have been developed a bit more, as it sounds empty for most of the time. But as it is, I think this works.

[Moiraine]

Can this really be considered a song 80% of the time? I mean yes, there is parts with a melody, and those are great, but the rest is just banging it seems. Though with the main theme parts it is good, the rest isnt.

[Strider Kyoden]

I don't care what you all say. You say this mix is shabby? No way. I like the 'industrial' effect, I'm not sure if that is what it's called. But it makes it sound like it's a weapons factory. And I like that, It draws me into the song and then the main melody kicks up. This is a very nice Mix. But it's all a matter of Personal opinion. I would recommend this one.

I serious am drawn into this mix just for those heavy drums. It makes this mix.

Edit: Curse you Typos!

[Liontamer]

There's a bit too much overcompression here, but the industrial stuff was actually pretty interesting. The title's a little too abstract/artsy-fartsy for my taste ("Romantic Death's Auditory Hallucination") but whatever. Not totally my cup of tea, but I can see why people could like this mix. Certainly some cool ideas here with this thick drumwork, and the execution isn't bad relative to when it came out. Sure, give it a look; it's definitely a different take on the source material that you'd expect, and is a nice contrast to Star Salzman's "Pillar of Salt", covering the same source material.

[DarkCecil13]

Some pretty creative stuff going on here, but those industrial strength drums get old fast. Really, if those drums weren't as annoying, this mix would be so much more *awesome* as it has everything else going for it.

[KnockKnock]

don't listen to this tripe (the mix that is).

i used unprocessed drum samples (that is, they came the way they sound. lame, i know). and that gurgle that goes throughout the piece is because FL wouldn't allow me to stop it! that is all.

[OceansAndrew]

Way too empty, and dare I say ugly and boring as well? The compression here is completely out of control, and with nothing to back it up. There is the gurgle, but no real bass to speak of , and the general silence is not doing it for me at all.

Sorry, I don't like this one at all.

[DragonAvenger]

The gurgle is fine at first...but then it goes...through the entire mix.

I actually don't hate this mix, but there does need to be more going on. When stuff is actually happening I think it's decent. Nothing terribly great, but listenable and somewhat enjoyable.

Definately needs some improvement, but there is some promise shown in the mix. The section starting around 3:00 sticks out, more development on that would have been nice.

[Evil_Cronos]

The industrial effects take over as the beat of this mix. But there is no where near enough melody in this song. The industrial effects are alright and there is a good deal of altering their sound, but not enough melody for me. Not my favorite mix but I still enjoy it every now and then.

[justinj212]

I kind of agree with DA on this one. The gurgle does set the mood, but it pretty much drowns out everything that comes after it without really contributing much. Would have cut it at around 0:40. Really like at around 3:05 when things start to build like crazy, but for some reason there's this gurgling noise over it. I think it souds industrial enough with your other effects.

[Bahamut]

For some reason, I don't remember this mix, and I *know* I've heard all of the Xenogears mixes. Ignoring the fake instruments, one section that really got to me was around the 3 minute mark for 10 seconds or so. The soundscape is pretty empty here excepting a really annoying background sound, and really kills any interest in the mix. A similar occurrence happens at around the 4:15 mark, and just screams to me as poor.

[42]

This does feel pretty empty. Even though it was going for the industrial vibe, industrial styled mixes aren't completely devoid of human touches.

Everything here feels like it was cranked out with cold precision by a music notation machine and compiled together for the most part. I'd just recommend passing this one up.

[Rexy]

Trying to ignore that awkward gurgle on this one; mad props for the enveloping, but for me it just has that awkward unnecessary presence that can be grating.

But alas, with that main criticism out of the way, I felt the setup was pretty neat for its time with the industralised drums and synth runs following the source reasonably well and giving it a good amount of charm with the writing. Even the string swelling at 2:20 was a good touch to give in an added sense of eerieness towards the track's timbre.

Though, people have been mentioning signs of emptiness on the track. For me, aside from some of the synth echoes and the obligatory drone, it does have that non-filled feeling, though what I think this track desperately needed was a bass of some texture. We had this neat setup for something that could be akin to maybe an Aphex Twin song, but it's being held back via these empty textures and especially leaving out what I felt was the most significant component of the track.

Taking aside the flaws, you might get some enjoyment out of it depending on genre preferences, but for me I just found it hard due to the emptiness and constant drone sound. It's alright for what it was at the time, but it has aged drastically simply down to the weak writing decisions, which is a shame because it seemed like a neat idea on paper. You'll need to be cautious if you're to approach this particular track