Final Fantasy 6 - Six Feet Beneath the Veldt

[Sagnewshreds]

Hey there! First time posting to the WIP forum, but I finally have a remix I feel would be up to par for OCR standards. This one is from my third time entering Dwelling of Duels, and I managed to snag third place during MAGFest/Collaboration month. For collaborators, I recruited old bandmates and friends of mine from the thrash metal scene. These include bassist Mike Dreher from my old band Condition Critical, Tony Barhoum from the same band to do two guest guitar solos, and drummer Brian Westbrook from Lich King who also helped with production. I did all of the arrangement and all of the guitar playing except for Tony's two solos (we both had two guitar solos in this remix though).

Here's the source

Here's the song uploaded to the Dwelling of Duels YouTube page

Here is a direct link to download a WAV file of it from our Google drive folder

Here it is on my Soundcloud

Source breakdown if you want it:

0:00 - 0:21 This is a reference to both the original Veldt theme and the intro to an Artillery song which the name of this remix came from. We tried to make the drums a mix between the Veldt drums and the drums from that song. The guitar riff has the same rhythm as the Artillery song, but with the notes from the first section of the source tune. 

0:22 - 0:44 Original riff that I wrote to go under the lead coming up.

0:45 - 1:05 Lead guitar with the main melody from Wild West (the source tune).

1:06 - 1:27 The next section from Wild West played as a thrash riff with lots of triplets. The lead coming in after the first break is the melody from the section of Wild West that the rhythm guitar is referencing.

1:29 - 1:39 Guitar solo by me. The rhythm guitar under the solo is the bassline from the last section of the source loop.

1:40 - 1:50 This is a thrash rendition of the same section of the source that the rhythm guitar during the solo was playing.

1:51 - 2:08 Guitar solo by Tony Barhoum over a clean guitar section that is a direct reference to an Artillery song.

2:09 - 2:32 Guitar solo by me over an original riff. These two solo sections are the only parts of the song that have no references to the source.

2:33 - 2:53 Thrash riff directly based off of the source tune. If you couldn't tell from the rhythm guitar, the lead comes in halfway through this section making it more obvious.

2:54 - 3:14 Thrash riff also referencing the same section of the source. This one is a little more liberal/obscure because it was originally supposed to be another guitar solo from someone who did not have enough time to record their parts before the DoD submission deadline. If there is anything I am specifically asking for suggestions on, it is whether or not to just take this section out entirely, record another solo over it, or just leave it be.

3:15 - 3:49 Breakdown riff directly from the source. 

3:50 - 4:00 Drums directly from the intro of the source tune. Mike also decided to lay down a little mini bass solo over this section, which I didn't originally plan on but think it sounds rad.

4:01 - 4:43 The rhythm guitar plays the main melody from the source tune, and halfway through this section Tony Barhoum goes into another guitar solo.

4:44 - 4:56 Short ending riff not from the source.

Sorry for the long post, but hopefully the breakdown was helpful  The arrangement is pretty liberal, but after going through the breakdown I'm certain that it passes the 50/50 guideline because just about every section contains a reference to the source, if not is directly from the source. The sections I would think could be left out would be the intro (since the source reference is admittedly pretty obscure), the second guitar solo over the clean section, the third guitar solo, the section I mentioned that I would consider taking out, and the ending. These together add up to 1:56 worth of non source out of 4:56 worth of total music. That means it's about 60% source, and that is me being harsh and not counting two sections that do have references to the source. Unless I am an idiot and miscounted.

Thanks a bunch for any feedback you're willing to give on this!

[jnWake]

Intro is pretty cool, the bass sounds great. Guitar riff at 0:22 is sweet, feels very natural alongside the source (or your interpretation of it at least). The idea with the lead at 0:45 is pretty interesting but I'm not that sure if I like it. Maybe something higher there could work too? Like something else playing higher notes. I dunno.

What happened at 1:05 haha? The tapping is a bit sloppy and since it's almost solo (bass is barely listenable there) it's very noticeable.

At the 1:18 mark it'd be pretty cool if you played the A in the melody as double notes instead of a single one.

Quite abrupt transition to the clean section. Reverb on the lead is way too high and too low in the clean guitar (curiously).

2:42 seems like a perfect placeto have a higher lead playing too. Wonder why you placed all the leads in middle/low octaves... I don't think that's common in this type of music or at least in the few bands I listen that are similar to this.

3:15 is incredible. I'm not fond of the cymbals at 3:27 though. I think you could use a cymbal pattern like the one in Symphony X's Egypt intro. Here.

Transition at 3:49 is a bit sudden and the toms sound super exposed here. Bass solo is cool, it could play from the start of that section really. To be honest I felt the song ended well at 3:50, although the solos are kinda cool.

Overall, this is amazing. I would have never expected a Megadeth type song to come out from the Veldt source haha. I'm honestly very surprised by how well it works and how you adapted the source to perfectly fit the trash style. My main gripe with the arrangement is that everything seems to be playing in lower octaves mostly. Some higher sounding notes are welcome you know!

Regarding the playing, the rhytmic riffing is awesome but the solos have a few sections that are a bit sloppy, like the tapping at 1:05. Still, that's mainly nitpicking from me since the playing is pretty good.

[Rozovian]

Fun source. I had forgotten about it, so thanks for bringing it here.

The breakdown is appreciated, it speeds up the eval a lot.

Fun references, very fitting, and nicely adapted to the source. These might run afoul of the submission rule that says use of non-game music as source "should be extremely limited". I think this extent is fine, but that's up to the judges.

The world needs more bass solos.

Source usage is fine, mix quality is fine, and the track rocks. The submission rule isn't 50/50, but rather that the source should be "prominent". Which it is. Cool stuff.