Gario Posted November 22, 2017 Share Posted November 22, 2017 MkVaff Michael Vafeas 6 Final Fantasy VII 'Cosmo" Valley of the Fallen Star This remix is the last song I completed as part of my first EP, which contains a combination of remixes as well as original songs. The album is called 'Loopy', and the concept was to try and create songs exclusively using various loops from all different sources. While the majority of the original songs from the project primarily use only loops, for the remixes I of course had to track the various parts of the songs and loop them within the software. There's a lot of the FF7 soundtrack that I have trouble remembering, but I always loved the Cosmo Canyon theme. It has a wonderful, propulsive rhythm, and uses the simplistic tribal sounds to great effect. It's one of those instantly hummable themes, and I wanted to retain all of the best elements of the original while also incorporating a bunch of loops and sounds that I discovered while putting together my bigger project. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted November 22, 2017 Author Share Posted November 22, 2017 Man, this track feels like a blast from OCR's past - the style, the instruments, etc. - it sounds like something from pre-2010 OCR, in the best possible way. Straightforward, the arrangement doesn't add too much trimming to the source, but simultaneously it takes enough liberty with the tone and instrumentation to be considered interpretive enough. The synths are pretty 'nilla, but they're definitely used in such a way to keep them sounding meaty and interesting. I love all of the percussion used in this, but they do go into autopilot quite a bit in this track. 0:39 - 1:38 & 1:49 - 2:38 are both long stretches where the drums are unchanging. This contributes to a static feel in the track, though it's fortunately broken up at key points so that it doesn't sink the track entirely. Still, for the future some more drum fills, variations in drum patterns, etc., would help keep the track feeling fresh throughout. Static percussion aside, I think this is a well rounded piece. It's a conservative arrangement with some cool instrumentation, slick style and a hefty beat to keep it all together. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted December 12, 2017 Share Posted December 12, 2017 Well, this is catchy as hell, and despite the deliberate decision to emphasize the "loopiness" of it, is only somewhat repetitive. The percussion is definitely pretty static, and 1:58-2:27 is more similar to 0:49-1:17 than I'd like, but I think it gets by. My bigger concern is balance: the leads are consistently too quiet and are frequently muffled by everything else that's going on. However, the simple synths work in the arrangement's favor in this respect, since they occupy a narrow part of the frequency spectrum and thus have very little conflict. It's a bit of a throwback and not MkVaff's strongest work, but there's nothing dealbreaking about it and it's quite enjoyable. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DragonAvenger Posted February 16, 2018 Share Posted February 16, 2018 I was excited to hear this after reading the description and setting the artist, and this doesn't disappoint. Nice and bouncy, with a bit of an old school mix sound. Creative use of loops, and aside from the percussion issue mentioned I found this super enjoyable. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted February 20, 2018 Share Posted February 20, 2018 I'm very happy MkVaff decided to return, OCR needs more oldschool goodness. Though this has that certain oldschool vibe to it, it doesn't feel dated at all. It's catchy and the original is easily recognizable. No crazy melody transformations here, and that's 100% fine with me. Losts of style, glitchy loops, and love for the original. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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