OCR04565 - *YES* Final Fantasy 8 "Witches Be Witches"

[Liontamer]

Title: Witches Be Witches

Source: Succession of Witches (FF8)

 

This track...is the result of being burnt out. By this point I had already hyped up the idea of doing a 13th hour bonus disc... I say 13th because the 11th hour had already passed and DFW and Jorito had graciously half agreed to do the bonus disc. Even convinced Jorito to submit one of his own bonus tracks somehow. And before this track I had conjured up Time Will Compress but was a lot of finesse to be done in a couple of days... anywho...  I started this one... then hated where it was going from lack of desire to continue existing so I switched focus to helping Angelique with her bonus tracks. Fast forward a few days(we only had 10 days to get this disc done) and I see the finish line of having the album hit 80 tracks overall... so I forced myself to get this one done. Having just had miles long conversations with Angelique and working with her on her own tracks I decided to utilize her voice in this track, as simple as the part may be... but it added a layer to the track that helped round it out in the end. Was she singing a single note and just chanting fithos lusec wecos vinosec? Yes. But... she did a great job at it.

 

0:00 to 0:39 - motif pull from original

0:40 to 0:49 - melody variant pull from original

0:52 to 0:55 - melody from original

1:02 to 1:06 - melody from original

1:11 to 1:16 - melody from original

1:21 to 1:25 - melody from original

1:30 to 1:35 - melody from original

1:49 to 2:18 - motif from original(like intro), fithos lusec also references original

2:20 to 2:37 - Variation of alternate melody from the original

2:38 to 2:56 - Alternate motif from the original

2:57 to 3:05 - Alternate motif still but added variance of main melody over it

3:06 to 3:10 - Another alternate melody from the source

3:11 to 3:20 - Reprisal of main melody from earlier

3:21 to end - piano playing main melody but glitchy

 

[MindWanderer]

I like the approach here, for the most part. Lots of rich timbres, and the vocals are done in a novel way. The arrangement progresses through a lot of good ideas.

Opens with a very clean, dry synth, then quickly adds dirtier and dirtier layers. It's a strange approach that took me by surprise. I'm not sure that it's wrong per se, but it sounds wrong to me; it doesn't make any sense that synths should need to sound like they're in the same space, they're fake anyway, but the change in ambience is jarring.

0:28-0:48 in particular is gritty to the point of being muddy. At 0:38 the melody is sitting pretty far back in the mix compared to the bass and pads, but it's only for a couple of measures.  Balance does continue to be a little weird after that, but not so badly; notably, the drums and pads are quite loud most of the time. The quieter sections (1:38-2:07, 2:16-2:26) are the best-sounding.

The ending is very abrupt and kind of inconslusive. Very much one of those endings where it sounds like you just ran out of ideas and called it a day.

I'm more on the fence about this one than all the other submissions of yours I've been ramming through lately.  The issue with dirty production you sometimes have is in full force here, and the ending really makes the composition feel incomplete. I think the ending is the only part that's really not okay, and I won't send this back over just that.

YES

[prophetik music]

lots of space in the intro. each layer, like MW said, is subsequently more distorted and mean, and the eventual melodic content's mostly clean sound is a real neat contrast to that. SoW has a very unique song structure in my mind due to how much space is in the original, so the heavily percussive drums and stuttering synths with tons of space in them really fit the song well. there's a break around 1:40 that features some really neat sound design.

2:08 brings back in some more sfx in a rising action only to hit a huge shift at 2:17, which was totally unexpected and a neat idea. there continues to be a variety of textural changes, until the original melodic lead and bass come back in at 2:55. we get one runthrough of the melodic material at 3:09, and then the track is over. the ending is abrupt certainly, but given the variety of abrupt changes throughout the track, not entirely unexpected.

this is a pretty neat idea for a track overall. the industrial elements pair really well with an original that demands silence in a retelling, and the abrupt changes and glitches that occur in the overall timbre in turn are influenced by the game's story which is neat. i think this is pretty good.

 

 

YES

Edited August 28, 2023 by prophetik music

[Liontamer]

Always love the pointilist melodic style used in the opening, so I'm certainly ready to follow along. The way the piece brightened up with the SID-like line at 1:19-1:38 was awesome. Also love how vibrant these beats are until the dropoff at 1:38. VQ vocals hop in at 1:47 and added a brief break section before even more textural trickery capped off the finish. I didn't have any issue with how this was produced; good sounds, good grittiness in places that was totally intentional and added character, loads of great sound design that'll no doubt inspire others down the line. He's got enough polish to where this didn't feel like a WIP in any way; very cohesive realization of the vision with a very interpretive rendition of this theme. Fun to see Zack say this was a burnout track; him dropping his defenses and not overthinking the process led to a heightened, speedier state of creativity and productivity!

YES

[Chimpazilla]

Intro is so simplistic, but when that beat comes in I'm hooked!  I love how weird this sounds, and aggressive.  The soundscape is varied and sounds harsh, in a wonderful way.  I love the crushed lead that starts at 0:50.  The saw lead that follows sounds great.  I love how the vocals come in sounding soft and sparse, as the soundscape fills in around them.  Great arrangement, interesting piece, lots of lovely detail, holds my attention all the way through.  I love the distorted piano in the outro.  Mixing and mastering sound appropriate.  

YES