OCRA-0009 - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream

[KingTiger]

Come on, man. Everyone knows Transmission is where it's at.

Got it. Oh wow this is so much better. I think the Mac version of BitTorrent must just suck or something. Thank you.

[Bahamut]

Got it. Oh wow this is so much better. I think the Mac version of BitTorrent must just suck or something. Thank you.

lol, yeah, Transmission is worlds better than the official client.

[Steffan Andrews]

Maaaan, I just noticed that damn near every song references J-E-N-O-V-A in some form or another. I heard it in Too Much Fighting and also a bit in Serenity. Any other JENOVA sightings? Besides the obvious, you know, the jenova remixes?

There is an allusion to it in Black Wing Metamorphosis (OWA) too

[anosou]

That's Swedish, and it means something like ''Hell of a song'' so don't kill me for using foreign words, thank you very much.

Tack så jättemycket! I'm really glad you enjoyed it

[Fishy]

http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details?url=www.ocremix.org

rofl

[musicaloblivion]

Listened to every track and I really have no complaints about it. Every piece has something very unique about it. Almost like every song had it's own persona, per say. I wish I could pay everyone who made this possible. I feel like I owe.

Favorite Song:

Almost made me cry. This song is so beautiful!

"Shnabubula - Stone Eyes (The Great Warrior)"

[The Author]

I finally got to listen to the entire project, and well, some songs made me wish I had a 6 star rating on my ipod. This is probably one of the best compilations I have had the chance to listen to.

Great variety of genres, and it really gave a new life to a soundtrack that is too often limited to 4 or 5 songs (you can name them, come on, you know you can.)

This deserves all the praise it got.

[Liontamer]

Courtesy Gecko Yamori, our new promotional art:

[suzumebachi]

I think last.fm finally broke. A ton of the project songs can't be searched for, yet they exist in the database when you browse by tags. And the number of plays is definitely broken. Scenes from a Memory has 410, but Black Wing Metamorphosis only has 2? That surely can't be right.

[anosou]

I think last.fm finally broke. A ton of the project songs can't be searched for, yet they exist in the database when you browse by tags. And the number of plays is definitely broken. Scenes from a Memory has 410, but Black Wing Metamorphosis only has 2? That surely can't be right.

It might be, many haven't got the last CD, and if they have they might not have listened to it.

But honestly, I think it's broken XD

[Dunther]

Someone adds the information on Last.fm please

[Nutritious]

I'm seriously tempted to put that picture on the jewell case when I burn the project

[CelticWhisper]

I'm currently in the process of converting the WAVs from this project to FLAC files, but I'm having some trouble with the WAV version of Disc 1, Track 12 "Motor Crazycycle." The FLAC compressor reaches 100% but then throws an error regarding an unexpected End Of File.

I've already tried redownloading the individual file with my torrent client (Azureus), but no dice.

Is anyone else having this problem, or has anyone discovered a solution? I could try hex-editing, but I've never hex-edited an audio file before.

If it helps, I can post the output of flac when I try to run it from the shell.

As for the music itself...

d-----^___^-----b

[Meiguoren]

Well, I'm about halfway through Disc 3 and I have to say... I'm just not feeling it.

The scope of this project is incredible and the sheer amount of contributors is a wonder. The names involved are so full of talent and originality, and many of them have been favorites of mine since before I arrived on the boards.

That said, I don't know why this project just feels so lackluster, so soulless. It's big, it covers a lot of ground, but it's just not incredible.

That's not to say that it's all been bad, however. Thus far the standouts (both positively and negatively) have been:

BGC's first track on Disc 1 was unique and wonderful. After the lackluster feel of the opening track (which had great production and incredible singing but felt like a by the numbers exercise) this one made me sit up in my chair.

The rest all seemed to melt together until Liontamer's vocoder work, which was totally unnecessary. That track was going very well until the jarring narration.

The rest of the first disc was a mess of sounds, with every track sounding the same. Frequently I couldn't tell when one ended and the next began.

The second disc, thankfully, had more variety. Robson's track sounded great (I've been a fan of his since long before he was on this site) but it lacked transitions and cohesion.

Dshu's piece was a wonderful solo piano, which flowed very, very well, and Mustin's piece was well done, but couldn't wipe away the feeling that CotMM's six or seven year old two minute piece continues to elicit.

And perhaps that's my problem. I feel that there have already been so many great mixes of these tracks on the site that these new ones are just... underwhelming. This collection just feels unnecessary, like an exercise in making music instead of creating something wonderful that you love. I'm just not feeling that love.

That's not to say that this is bad, because it's not. Not by any means. It's just not what it should have been. Or, perhaps more accurately, it's not the collection that is already in the archives of this very website. There are better versions of many of these same tracks right here.

And I think the thing that's hitting me the hardest is just not being impressed by a batch of my favorite musicians. I got really excited about seeing their names on the list, especially Jovette, as I frequently wonder what he's up to these days (and, to be fair, I haven't made it to his track yet).

I do appreciate and admire the concept of the collection, drawing inspiration from the new additions to the FFVII lore, but most of these tracks were just taken from redos of the original OST.

If anything this has inspired me to pull out all those old mixes, to revisit some classics and old favorites.

[Liontamer]

The rest all seemed to melt together until Liontamer's vocoder work, which was totally unnecessary. That track was going very well until the jarring narration.

Apologies for providing that track with my black sexyness. You are the only person in existence that could resist. :'-(

[bladiator]

You haven't gotten to my track yet.

*unsubstantiated ego*

[Ashram]

You haven't gotten to my track yet.

*unsubstantiated ego*

Bladiator, your piano track is awesome. :3

In that vein, so are Pot Hocket's acoustic tracks. While I heard a few twangs (Say twang with a Southern, hick accent for maximum effect) on "Sleep, My Sephy" (Cute name, by the way), both that song and "Daydreaming Again" are very awesome.

[Imasock]

Several repeatings of JENOVA Celestial later, working in photoshop has yielded this artwork I made for my own use in a game called Stepmania.

Whenever I make artwork, I repeat a song 2-3 times before starting, then I let my imagination and musical interpretation run loose in the form of artwork while it continues to repeat.

This is one of my favorite tracks, hopefully this artwork shows it, too. =D

Thank you, bLiNd.

In Stepmania, this image is shown when the player highlights the song in the music selection screen.

And this image is what is shown while playing the song, as a background image.

EDIT -

And, regarding this:

The rest all seemed to melt together until Liontamer's vocoder work, which was totally unnecessary. That track was going very well until the jarring narration.

In all honesty, I feel the exact opposite, the song was already excellent, but that quote inserted in the song blew me away, I thought it was the perfect addition to make the track truly unique and amazing..

I think people need to realize these are remixes, not re-masters. If you want a better version of the actual song, wait until Square releases the remake of VII on the PS3 some time in the next 20 years. Then you'll get good music that stays true to the originals 110%. Until then, I suggest you suck it up and remember these are meant to differ in style and musical composition than the original, while still retaining something that is reminiscent of the original . That's precisely what a remix is. This was done for free, I think some of you are judging this quite harshly. It's not like you paid money for the album and were severely disappointed or something. Stop acting like these artists owe you something with their music.

It's clearly stated on the front page, " From jazz to techno to rock to classical, it features over forty five tracks from over forty artists, each interpreting composer Nobou Uematsu's works in their own unique style."

[Meiguoren]

I realize precisely what these are. This has been a site that fosters that kind of creativity for eight years (if memory serves). I have been an active listener for six of those eight. And I thought I was pretty clear in my post that what I wanted wasn't a direct copy of the song, but some heart and soul, which was lacking.

The simple instrumentals did end up pleasing me, and the last three tracks were quite good (Jovette's being the most audacious and amazing track of the entire thing), but it all just wasn't needed. Poke around in the archives and you'll find more original, better constructed versions of almost every theme of the FFVII OST. That was my point.

[Liontamer]

I realize precisely what these are. This has been a site that fosters that kind of creativity for eight years (if memory serves). I have been an active listener for six of those eight. And I thought I was pretty clear in my post that what I wanted wasn't a direct copy of the song, but some heart and soul, which was lacking.

The simple instrumentals did end up pleasing me, and the last three tracks were quite good (Jovette's being the most audacious and amazing track of the entire thing), but it all just wasn't needed. Poke around in the archives and you'll find more original, better constructed versions of almost every theme of the FFVII OST. That was my point.

If I knew this was coming, I would have done things d-d-d-d-d-d-differently-ly-ly-ly-ly-ly.

[Meiguoren]

I've always loved you.

[herograw]

Well, I'm about halfway through Disc 3 and I have to say... I'm just not feeling it.

The scope of this project is incredible and the sheer amount of contributors is a wonder. The names involved are so full of talent and originality, and many of them have been favorites of mine since before I arrived on the boards.

That said, I don't know why this project just feels so lackluster, so soulless. It's big, it covers a lot of ground, but it's just not incredible.

That's not to say that it's all been bad, however. Thus far the standouts (both positively and negatively) have been:

BGC's first track on Disc 1 was unique and wonderful. After the lackluster feel of the opening track (which had great production and incredible singing but felt like a by the numbers exercise) this one made me sit up in my chair.

The rest all seemed to melt together until Liontamer's vocoder work, which was totally unnecessary. That track was going very well until the jarring narration.

The rest of the first disc was a mess of sounds, with every track sounding the same. Frequently I couldn't tell when one ended and the next began.

The second disc, thankfully, had more variety. Robson's track sounded great (I've been a fan of his since long before he was on this site) but it lacked transitions and cohesion.

Dshu's piece was a wonderful solo piano, which flowed very, very well, and Mustin's piece was well done, but couldn't wipe away the feeling that CotMM's six or seven year old two minute piece continues to elicit.

And perhaps that's my problem. I feel that there have already been so many great mixes of these tracks on the site that these new ones are just... underwhelming. This collection just feels unnecessary, like an exercise in making music instead of creating something wonderful that you love. I'm just not feeling that love.

That's not to say that this is bad, because it's not. Not by any means. It's just not what it should have been. Or, perhaps more accurately, it's not the collection that is already in the archives of this very website. There are better versions of many of these same tracks right here.

And I think the thing that's hitting me the hardest is just not being impressed by a batch of my favorite musicians. I got really excited about seeing their names on the list, especially Jovette, as I frequently wonder what he's up to these days (and, to be fair, I haven't made it to his track yet).

I do appreciate and admire the concept of the collection, drawing inspiration from the new additions to the FFVII lore, but most of these tracks were just taken from redos of the original OST.

If anything this has inspired me to pull out all those old mixes, to revisit some classics and old favorites.

Well first off, I thought Larry's words were a pretty welcome edition, as it explains a certain feeling that playing the game evoked and I think a lot of people had missed out on that excellent quote.

Had I never played the game, this album would sound pretty mediocre on the first listen. However, the FF series lined up pretty well with my age group and I remember buying FF7 before I had a psx (did the same thing with Shenmue 1 and 2) which is a statement in itself. It was the nostalgia that put me over the top with this album. After droning thru the first track (I have been endowed with a very limited vocal range, so I can empathize with jill) BGC's opening mix really started things. From there the tracks blended together in places and I had to go back a few times after having listened to an entire other track and not realizing it. But along the way were placed a handful of gems.

I know it's difficult, what with the album being 3+ hours long, but my recommendation is to give it several listens throughout the week. This album gets better with each listen.

[Meiguoren]

I'm halfway through my third listen thus far, and it's just not doing it. Not even for nostalgia's sake, as there are better mixes already up on the site.

Anyway, I'm impressed with the scope, guys, it just appears as though I'm the one guy who didn't enjoy it. That'll be all out of me. Thanks for listening to my contrarian perspective.

[bLiNd]

Several repeatings of JENOVA Celestial later, working in photoshop has yielded this artwork I made for my own use in a game called Stepmania.

Whenever I make artwork, I repeat a song 2-3 times before starting, then I let my imagination and musical interpretation run loose in the form of artwork while it continues to repeat.

This is one of my favorite tracks, hopefully this artwork shows it, too. =D

Thank you, bLiNd.

In Stepmania, this image is shown when the player highlights the song in the music selection screen.

And this image is what is shown while playing the song, as a background image.

Hey thanks man, thats an honor! Glad you like the track. I really wanted that one to have all the best pieces of the original but totally change the feel to something more uplifting. The original is a little darker in its progressions, but thats what made it good.

[Villainelle]

Anyway, I'm impressed with the scope, guys, it just appears as though I'm the one guy who didn't enjoy it. That'll be all out of me. Thanks for listening to my contrarian perspective.

It's not a contrarian perspective. It's self-contradictory. You acknowledge that the entire album has a wide scope (one presumes of styles, moods, ideas, approaches etc.) yet then say that you don't like most of it. That doesn't make sense, unless you have very narrow taste in music and are close-minded about listening outside of your comfort zone...in which case, why offer us your opinion, knowing few works of music are pleasing to you?

Considering which tracks you singled out for praise, I garner that you just don't like electronic music, period. You could have saved yourself a lot of typing by just stating that and going on to praise the ones in styles you like.

Not gonna argue, bro, but what's the point of writing a long post about how you basically don't like electronica?