Rexy Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Remixer: Ivan Hakštok Games arranged: Final Fantasy 8, Final Fantasy 9 Name of arrangement: Hunter's Landing Names of songs arranged: The Landing (FF8), Hunter's Chance (FF9) I figured I'd submit more of my Dwelling of Duels backlog to ocremix. This song placed 2nd in Nobuo Uematsu month (March 2019). This originally started as just a prog version of The Landing from FF8, but for some reason I remembered a random comment I saw ages ago under a youtube video for Hunter's Chance saying how it would work great combined with The Landing, so I thought I might just combine the two. Since I wanted some flair instead of just guitar wankery, I added some celtic instruments in there, and the song ended up being this prog-rock-folk combo thing. My initial plan was for this song to be much longer, but I got too busy trying to beat Sekiro at the time and I had to cut the arrangement short so I can meet the DoD deadline. Since then, I've gotten some new gear and plugins, and going back to completing what I originally intended might require me to re-record/re-mix most of the song + record the new parts. I know I'm too lazy to do that, so I decided to just leave it as it is. Here's the source usage breakdown: 0:00 - 0:39 = intro based on Hunter's Chance chords 0:39 - 1:14 = a straightforward take on Hunter's Chance 1:14 - 2:56 = The Landing, with some guitar solos and a 6/4 section converted into 5/4 2:56 - 3:15 = Hunter's Chance again Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prophetik music Posted September 8, 2020 Share Posted September 8, 2020 interesting idea for a track here. there's a weird timing thing in the accordion right off the bat,and some timing around 0:13 that's a little off. but i love the entrance of the guitar, and the subsequent folk elements and how they balance into everything. i think there's more than enough arrangement here throughout even discounting the solo (which is awesome!). overall, there's some timing elements that come up here and there - usually guitars rushing and settling back in after a few seconds. the drums are pretty straightforward and you can only really hear the kick and snare, but that's not unexpected for the style. that said, the mastering is pretty consistent and i can always hear what i'm supposed to be hearing, so i think that this is easily over the bar. YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jivemaster Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 The accordion definitely feels like it missteps at the start. The flute sounds great. The lead at 0:59 is well done, with good tone, mixing. The lead at 1:43 feels like it’s rushing ahead a little bit compared to the other elements. Outro is tight and great. Overall, certainly not as tight of a performance as I expected — some parts mesh really well, others feel messy. Production is decent with an exceptional level of clarity — more than is typically found with a guitar heavy piece like this. Well done there. I think this hits a lot of the right spots, arrangement contains a decent amount of changes and the core theme is prominently presented. I just can’t help but feel this would present better if performance was tightened up in the areas that need it. I really think the accordion at the beginning needs to be fixed because it just doesn’t sound right, which puts off the listener on what’s to come. I’ll drop in a conditional on that, and I wouldn’t be against other parts being tightened while at it. YES (conditional on accordion fix) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rexy Posted December 10, 2020 Author Share Posted December 10, 2020 A mix of this scope sounds intimidating on paper, and yet it's a simple one. Outside of the bookends, the track goes right through the A section of Hunter's Chance as mentioned, then at 1:21, it goes through The Landing starting from the C section and looping to A. Following a crazy 11/4 riff section at 2:44, the source quota then goes back to Hunter's Chance's main melody before the ending. So while it structurally doesn't re-invent the wheel, what you did with the flourishes on the lead guitar and folk instrumentation added more to the writing density and expression thereof. I also thought the left-panned accordion at 1:21 did a genius idea of carrying the piano riffs from Hunter's Chance through to the Landing. And of course, I didn't forget the guitar solo on top of the D section at 1:44 or that part at 2:06 where you brought half of Landing's F section into 5/4 from the original's 6/4. The substance checks out, and there's more than enough musicianship to spread around on top! The mixdown is mostly a clean one with some strong presentation of your instruments via panning and EQ. But I'm also in the same mind as Brad in which the high-pitched instrumentation like the hi-hats and cymbals are far back in the mix. Thankfully, the kick and snare cut through well, so I can see that as a non-issue. The guitar performances are also mostly tightened with the folk instrument getting various humanization techniques, including timings and the flourishes mentioned earlier. Though, the first 15 seconds with the accordion felt like it meandered too far offbeat and could've done with a re-take. I understand the argument for starting track anticipation, but it's also a small fragment of a larger scale, so it's nothing to mark a conditional vote over. Please watch out for such things in the future, though. It all adds up to a unique package that brought together two themes that stylistically work so well against each other, had well-executed quirky instruments on top of your usual guitar prowess, plus it also has an accessible and fulfilling interpretation. I'm in favor of seeing this get posted - excellent work, Ivan! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emunator Posted February 6, 2021 Share Posted February 6, 2021 I agree with the rest of the team here - this is not your most polished submission but I admire the ambition put forth, even though you had to cut it short from your original vision. The accordion timing in the intro is particularly egregious, but I feel that it's too significant of a change to qualify as a Conditional YES, but also not enough of a dealbreaker to warrant a NO, either. C'est la vie! Aside from that, I also found some less-noticeable timing issues in the metal section that followed immediately after, and the ending was anticlimactic for sure. All things considered though, I think the track's strengths - skillful integration of Celtic instrumentation with a standard prog metal band setup, and slick fusion of multiple themes - are good enough to pass this even without any revisions. Good work! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liontamer Posted August 18, 2021 Share Posted August 18, 2021 I get the problem with the accordion, but it's not a dealbreaker at all for me, and the presentation's cohesively rocked out. Let's go! YES Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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