Gario Posted July 12, 2018 Share Posted July 12, 2018 By: M Benson (Remixer name) Mike Benson (Real name) Game: Final Fantasy 6 Arrangement name: "Dark World of Beats" Songs used: "Dark World" and "Another World of Beasts" I played everything in the mix except for the drums, which are sequenced. Hope you enjoy! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gario Posted July 12, 2018 Author Share Posted July 12, 2018 This is a great take on this source - somber and jazzy. I hear the sequenced drums (they're not bad, to be honest), but the other instruments are sounding great on this. The real strength of this arrangement is the overall soundscape, the excellent use of the instruments in this, and the overall quality of the performances. That saxophone playing in the beginning in particular is nothing to scoff at - shows off the agility of the instrument better than most arrangements I've heard on here. It loses track of the timing at 0:44, but that's a comparitively minor hiccup. The arrangement itself blends the two sources effectively, and it's not something I thought would work. The relatively original material in the beginning does a nice job building into the rest of the arrangement, and when things kick off the source is clearly there. Great work on that front. The production quality is pretty good, but it does have a few hanging issues. The stereo separation used throughout is hard panned, which is distracting when the separation is delayed by a beat or two. You get used to it after a few listens, but it's definitely distracting. It's mostly an issue from 1:03 - 2:06; elsewhere the panning & stereo separation is pretty well done. The swing beat at 2:06 is... hard to evaluate. On more than one listening I can catch what's going on, but upon initial listen it's pretty disorienting, especially with the hats and the rest of the instrumentation playing against the swing beat. You should either be committing more instruments to the swing so that the impact of instruments NOT swinging is more prominent, or just play the section with a straight beat. Either way would work fine, but barely swinging with half of the percussion just sounds like a mistake. This one is a pretty hard vote, on my part. On the one hand, there's so much that I love in this track, but there are also issues that are not small issues. I think my vote can swing either way, but for now I think I'd be willing to let this pass; the sections that are problematic don't take up the entire piece, and they don't necessarily sink the track. Good luck with the rest of the vote. YES (BORDERLINE) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MindWanderer Posted July 13, 2018 Share Posted July 13, 2018 This one isn't so hard for me. I'll ditto all of Gario's positive comments, but I don't feel like the concerns he had impacted the mix all that much. I thought the hard panning worked well (and I'm normally a harsh critical of hard panning): it was reserved for brief call-and-return effects, and applied them tastefully and effectively, for the most part. The swing beat was certainly nontraditional and takes a bit to wrap one's brain around, but it didn't come across as a mistake to me, and I didn't find it unpleasant. I'm not a fan of fade-out endings, but this is executed better than most, and I can live with it. I'm happy to give this a comfortable YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted September 7, 2018 Share Posted September 7, 2018 The changeup at 2:05 was odd, sure, but I didn't have any real issues following the rhythm, so let's go. Nice way to personalize these themes, Mike. Welcome aboard! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sir_NutS Posted October 11, 2018 Share Posted October 11, 2018 The use of sax for these arpeggios throws me off, I don't usually hear the instrument used this way too often. Nothing wrong with it, just different. The heavy swing is another curveball in a fairly unorthodox arrangement, and it will sound pretty odd to many people but I really dig it. Love the panned clarinet playing the dark world motif, for some reason reminds me of Disney's Fantasia. This remix has tons of character and you definitely made it your own. Even with the changes, the source is kept clear and familiar. Very interesting remix for sure. Let's go. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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