Final Fantasy 7 'Off the Edge of Despair'

[tekcoh_top]

original -

http://omikron.bluelaguna.net/ff7music/73%20-%20Off%20the%20Edge%20of%20Despair.mp3

or

http://delta.bluelaguna.net/ff7music/73%20-%20Off%20the%20Edge%20of%20Despair.mp3

remix -

http://www.snapdrive.net/files/248352/edge%20of%20despairwip1.mp3

or

http://uploadfile2.putfile.com/getfile/11804--9a603slasha50360512855video--056sslash14800255749.mp3

comments please

[Dhsu]

Ah, I see you decided not to make this a project mix after all.

Anyway, I dunno if it's because my listening skills are getting rusty or something, but I'm having a hard time picking out the original melody in this arrangement. I heard a couple hints here and there, but it mostly sounds original to me. Maybe you could make it a little more obvious, like with an extra guitar line or something?

Great playing though, I really enjoyed listening to this.

[Kanthos]

I agree with Dhsu on all counts. Your playing, style, dynamics and so on are all fantastic, but while it sounds to me like you're more-or-less using the chords from the original, there's no melodic connection to the original. In terms of chords, my personal feeling is that it's alright to use your own melodies over the tune's chord progression (or even an altered version, say taking a song and using jazz chord voicings) as long as you've first established how the progression relates to the original by playing the original melody over the chords. From experience with a WIP I have, this view might even be a bit too liberal for OCRemix; it really depends how far you intend to stray from the source melodically.

I admittedly don't know the source that well; despite playing through FF 7 numerous times, I never liked that track and have only a vague memory of it, but if you work the original melody in somewhere, that will probably strengthen the connection between what you have now and the original (if it doesn't, of course, that indicates that your piece is too far away from the original; I doubt that's the case, but it's hard to tell).

Either way though, whether it's too original or not, it's still a great-sounding piece of music, and while that may not result in a yes, making quality music, video game or not, should be the point of anything any of us try to do.

[tekcoh_top]

alright, thanks guys. I'll agree that the melody line is changed into oblivion. I really only followed it from like 0:15 to 1:20, and even then, I was quite liberal i guess. After that, i just did whatever came to mind as I played without regard to the original, besides the MOOD of the original.

Basically, my main focus was to keep the general atmosphere of the original; the only difference between the two is in the last third, where I tried to transition into a lighter tone.

Anyways, anymore comments? Anything regarding production and such would also be appreciated.