Posted 2012-06-18, evaluated by the judges panel


What? A mega-medley, on OCR?? It's more likely than you'd think... all it takes is making sure that the glue that holds your arrangement together is top-notch, and that you're not time-traveling from source tune to source tune in a crude effort to pack as many in as possible. In other words: Melting Pot, not Salad Bowl. Continuing the trend of newcomers, this track is from Izkemia (Fernando Calvo, Claudio Lavín), but also features album director Brandon Strader w/ a brief orchestral intro & contributions to the arrangement. Fernando writes:

"This is basically a prog metal medley of nine FF1 OST tracks. It was a big challenge for us to arrange this, as major scales are predominant in the original tracks, and we tend to avoid them in our compositions. Anyway, we think it came out decently. Recording this took lots of effort and time, but it was definitely worth it. The medley is rather conservative in terms of harmony, with some exceptions like, for example, a "jazzy" take on "Menu Screen," but we played quite a lot with time signatures, keeping very few of the originals. We really hope you guys like this!

I really want to thank Andrew Struve, a.k.a. Obtuse, for telling me about this project, Brandon Strader for making a kickass intro for the song and for his invaluable support, and my good friend Claudio Lavín, who recorded the guitars and made the solos. Without your help, this wouldn’t have been possible! Fun fact: Neither I nor Claudio have EVER played FF1."

OA writes:

"Sequencing at the beginning was a bit stiff in the melody, but it worked well enough as an intro. The song itself is pretty solid, and features a ton of different source songs without feeling like a medley. The drums were a bit upfront, but reminded me more of the snappleman/norg track from the ff7 project in terms of production more than anything else."

Deia adds:

"I will say that while this is distinctly a medley, the transitions and overall style keep things organized and together, and the themes mesh very well from one to the next."

And finally, Larry:

"Absolutely excellent, personalized handling of this multitude of themes with some sweet transitions. The guitars could have wailed a bit more and been more expressive, but what was here was still strong enough. Pretty solid performances and just a strong as strong can be collab."

Judges said it well - epic, well-integrated medley that covers a LOT of territory but never loses steam. Looking forward to what Fernando & Claudio have in store for the future, but this was definitely a solid 6+ chunk of Random Encounter that rocked the hell out. Stay tuned for more flood mixes to come, and in the meantime enjoy the album & share it with others!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 9 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2013-12-21 11:04:52

Really impressive for a ReMix that has a medley-worth of songs. While I do agree that there are things that you could pick on if you so choose to (some sample, guitars, whatever), I think this is just about as good as you can get for a mix that tackles so much in just over six minutes. Awesome work, guys.

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Thin Crust
on 2012-10-12 10:51:30

Listening to this when I should be working.

So worth it.

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DimeTower
on 2012-07-11 02:33:46

I'll echo what a number of commenters have said - while I wish the guitars were a little more dominant, the reason I want them to be more dominant is that I find myself truly impressed and pleased - multiple times! - with your take on the source themes and how they move from one to another. What an enjoyable hear! A more rocking guitar could be duplicated, but such innovation cannot!

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Fernito
on 2012-07-09 13:08:47

Thanks guys, really appreciate your comments :-)

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jnWake
on 2012-07-07 18:25:10

Ignoring the orchestal passages, this song has quite an Alejandro Silva feel to it. Especially the beautiful section at 5:40.

Amazing song!

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Bahamut
on 2012-07-04 07:51:30

9 sources in 6:18 of music? Impressive to have been done so well without being on the cookiecutter side.

I do wish the lead guitars had a more dominant sound to them. Otherwise, the song delivers a pretty enjoyable trek through the songs and flows well for a mega medley - I think it's the first such song I've heard like that.

Great job!

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DominusVita
on 2012-06-20 03:53:06

I'll also agree that the flow of the medley is such that it doesn't instill a halting transition between each song - it's a delightful ditty that I happily give a thumbs up to. Nice work. :-)

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The Speed Buster
on 2012-06-18 22:37:07

Fun Thing: Izkemia are from the same country as mine :D

But oh well, this medley is great, I like how the songs perfectly match each other on the transition, and it's an instant fav to me, I like it, Great work guys.

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djpretzel
on 2012-06-18 15:57:18

What did you think? Post your opinion of this ReMix.

Sources Arranged (9 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy (Nintendo , 1987, NES)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Chaos Temple"
"Ending Theme"
"Gurgu Volcano"
"Main Theme"
"Menu Screen"
"Opening Theme"
"Save Music"
"Town"
"Underwater Temple"

Tags (8)


Genre:
Metal,Progressive Rock
Mood:
Aggressive
Instrumentation:
Acoustic Guitar,Electric Guitar
Additional:
Arrangement > Medley
Origin > Collaboration
Time > Duration: Long

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_Dance_of_Descent_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
11,589,425 bytes
MD5:
acc66ca0ad51293641fb7108f770ce81
Bitrate:
242Kbps
Duration:
6:19

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