*NO* Final Fantasy Tactics 'Distant Oases'

[djpretzel]

Very strange! Mostly in a good way, though a little meandering/repetitive... I dug the late-breaking harp glissando, and the production is unorthodox. Could def. benefit from feedback.

- djp

 

My ReMixer name: Ancient Kaa

My real name: Dan Petrelli

My email address: 

My website: n/a

My userid: n/a

 

Name of game arranged: Final Fantasy Tactics (PS)

Name of arrangement: Distant Oases

Name of individual song arranged: Desert Land

Link to the original soundtrack: http://ocremix.org/song/13735
 

Comments:

For a game with so much influence and such a great soundtrack, FFT has been remixed surprisingly few times (there's only two in there at the time of this submission).  I was nostalgically watching it being streamed recently, and this track stuck out to me as exceptional.  I had an inspiration to try replacing and augmenting the orchestral instruments with guitar, leaning towards classic/psychedelic rock in terms of tone.

With the music and title, I hoped to convey the feeling of traveling along caravan routes through the desert and seeing a dark shimmer on the horizon, unsure whether or not it is a mirage.  The feeling of dread and menace rises as the water stocks run low, followed by relief as the oasis is reached.

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Edited March 7, 2016 by Liontamer
closed decision

[DragonAvenger]

FFT ranks among my top soundtracks, so I totally get you. It's a really hard soundtrack to mix, because there's so much going on theoretically and harmonically. Right off the bat I'm noticing your soundscape is a bit exposed. The guitar sounds very up front along with the bass rhythm, and the other sounds are very distant, making the balance sound very strange. The soundscape is also very empty despite the backing strings you have going. I'd love to hear some more filling out of the background overall.

The arrangement overall sticks pretty close to the source both melodically and structurally. There's a little bit of noodling here and there, but otherwise this sounds a bit like a minimalist cover of the original. We generally look for more in terms of personalization and interpretation of the source. Check out our most recently posted mixes and compare them to their original sources to see how those artists really made the piece their own.

Definitely a great soundtrack, and I'd really like to see more mixes of it on the site. Keep at it!

NO (resubmit)

[Sir_NutS]

The soundscape feels empty, and I don't think it works in favor of the feel of the song.  The bass has an odd tone, almost rubber-bandy, and feels very boring, specially because the bass lines are very monotonous and the bass is exposed quite a bit.  I dislike the fadeout ending very much.

The arrangement doesn't stray very far from the original, with some reinterpretation to be found in the second half of the mix.  The substitution of the original orchestral elements could work if they filled more of the soundscape and brought more energy like those sections do in the original.  Structurally some sections work better than others.  00:54 is way too basic, but on contrast, 02:24 and on work very well.

Some good ideas here but overall needs more work in the arrangement, bring more interpretation.  In the production side of things it needs to make the empty sections work.

NO

[DaMonz]

Yes! FFT! We need more of that, for sure!

The first things that struck me in your arrangement is that the mix is very unbalanced, and the soundscape is pretty empty most of the time. There are parts like 0:40-0:50 and 1:59-2:11 with a big focus on the lows/low-mids, with those distorted guitar chords, that I think definitely lack definition. Things blur together even though there's very little going on. Other parts like 0:51-1:05 have the lead guitar super exposed, and feels very bare-bone. The harp is a nice touch to bring more of the original's feel, but I think it's too harsh and dry to accomplish this well. I think 1:06-1:57 and 2:24 onwards contain a lot of good ideas for making an interesting soundscape, and are in my opinion the best parts of your track as it currently stands. Although some mixing fixes would definitely help with the balance, I think the whole track needs work on the arrangement to flesh things out some more. I suggest trying to add more backing elements (maybe pads, more spacy guitar chords, orchestral detail work, etc?) to help you build a fuller atmosphere. Maybe using more percussive elements could also be an interesting idea to explore.

On the other hand, I really like the ostinato bass pattern taken from the source, with accents on each downtime, and I think that could serve as a strong basis for your track, if the aforementioned issues were fixed. I think you have a cool concept, and I'd really like to hear an improved version.

NO (resubmit)