Final Fantasy VII - On the Other Side of the Mountain

[H36T]

 

Certainly quite conservative (mostly on purpose) and I'm unsure how to take it to the next level. I think it's close in concept to submission? Maybe the beginning is too conservative. The piano could use some better humanization but that's no problem. I just don't know...what to do to give it more life and less of a cover type of feel while maintaining my conservative vision. Every time I revisit it I sit there stumped lol. So gonna take it to the streets of OCR lol.

[Hemophiliac]

Evaluation:

There's a lot to like here, even though it's "conservative" you've added quite a lot of subtlety to the track.  The original is basically solo acoustic guitar after all!  Love the style, and you know I'm a sucker for the choir.

All of the added strings carry some very emotive work.  Their new countermelodies you have added is the highlight for me. IE (1:06-1:26) is heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

After the opening ends, we are introduced to a new element; choir!  This is where the majority of the problems lie for me.  The attack on the samples is lagging just so slightly behind the beat and it's very noticeable especially when laid next to the piano as it is.  I'd suggest to try a couple things:  try getting more of an accent whenever there's a reticulation of a note or move up what's there currently to line up with the piano better.  The other aspect of the choir is that it sounds like it's in a different space than the other parts.  The choir is pushed back in the space and the piano and strings are much closer to the front.

Definitely address the humanization as you mentioned as well, can't forget that.

If you want to take it to the next level, my idea would be to bring back the cello towards the end playing some more lyrical and interesting countermelody to add to the choir.

[Hemophiliac]

[This is an automatically generated message]

I've reviewed your remix and have returned it to Work-in-Progress status, indicating that I think there are some things you still need to work on. After you work on your track and feel that it's ready for submission to OCR, please change the prefix back to Ready for Review and someone will review it again. Good luck!

[H36T]

7 hours ago, Hemophiliac said:

Evaluation:

There's a lot to like here, even though it's "conservative" you've added quite a lot of subtlety to the track.  The original is basically solo acoustic guitar after all!  Love the style, and you know I'm a sucker for the choir.

All of the added strings carry some very emotive work.  Their new countermelodies you have added is the highlight for me. IE (1:06-1:26) is heart-wrenchingly beautiful.

After the opening ends, we are introduced to a new element; choir!  This is where the majority of the problems lie for me.  The attack on the samples is lagging just so slightly behind the beat and it's very noticeable especially when laid next to the piano as it is.  I'd suggest to try a couple things:  try getting more of an accent whenever there's a reticulation of a note or move up what's there currently to line up with the piano better.  The other aspect of the choir is that it sounds like it's in a different space than the other parts.  The choir is pushed back in the space and the piano and strings are much closer to the front.

Definitely address the humanization as you mentioned as well, can't forget that.

If you want to take it to the next level, my idea would be to bring back the cello towards the end playing some more lyrical and interesting countermelody to add to the choir.

 

Bringing back the Cello...... I got a few different ideas! Thanks for the help. The choir I think a few things happen. That library naturally has a longer attack and I was trying to utilize that to make it sound less robotic. I don't think the attack is at its maximum low so I might be able to line em up. It definitely is noticeable during any moving line. It's worth checking out.

 

[gaspode]

Beautiful melody and instrumentation. From 0:43 on I think it would be nice to have some kind of lead-instrument. Because after the intro the whole song seems a little bit like a backing-track, especially when the choirs come in. Furthermore I think there should be pauses and variety in the piano-department to emphasize different parts of the melody. You have a really good foundation here, now you should build on this.

Edited July 26, 2023 by gaspode

[dasaten]

I like this. Such a beautiful source tune. I used to play this on recorder a lot back in the day.

I think the original version is very melancholic. Your instrumentation, especially the addition of strings and vocals give the piece an added note of hope the original doesn't have.