ReMix:Final Fantasy VII "Honour, Pride, Green Tea" 4:32

By Tuberz McGee

Arranging the music of 2 songs...

"Cid's Theme", "Cosmo Canyon"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1), music by Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2015-10-20, evaluated by the judges panel


While he's collaborated on a couple ReMixes previously, our first SOLO mixpost from Tuberz McGee (Callum Kennedy) comes in the form of a very creative & VERY Japanese take on "Cosmo Canyon" (and "Cid's Theme") from the amazing soundtrack to Final Fantasy VII:

"This mix was a fun little ditty I honestly did over a year ago and never submitted, maybe I was just lazy, I don't know, and I'm honestly writing a godawful run on sentence, so I'm sorry about that.

But, yeah, I'm really into Eastern ethnic instruments like the shamisen, erhu, and guzheng (to the point where I own a shamisen and erhu [too bad I wasn't confident enough to actually record the parts in to layer them with my samples, lel]). I felt like these two sources really lent themselves to that ethereal sound and decided to finally sub this mix. That's pretty much it, mang."

I kept wanting that intro shamisen riff to turn into "American Woman" by The Guess Who, but it never did, and that's a good thing :) My Firefox spell-checker wants to change "shamisen" into "misshapen," which is lolz. "Little ditty" or not, applying this instrumentation & style to these sources works really well - the core "Cosmo" melody already has an Asian flair to it, and this mix latches onto that and amplifies it with class & style. Offering up some constructive criticism but expressing overall approval and admiration, Chimpazilla writes:

"The plucked string samples sound a bit stiff, most noticeably in the intro, but I'm not sure how one would make them less stiff with this type of writing, therefore the samples are used really well. The arrangement gets repetitive with that motif over and over, that is my biggest complaint, but the instrument set is fantastic, as is the supportive writing. The woodwinds in particular are a highlight. I wish the track had been mastered just a little louder, but it has lovely dynamic range. Really enjoying this overall."

Some other judges mentioned "stiff" writing, but I do kinda feel that the shamisen authentically gets used like that rather often; didn't bug me, at least. Perhaps a bit repetitive, but what's being repeated is good enough to want to hear again, which always helps ;) Great concept & a great solo ReMix debut from Callum, who you'll definitely be seeing more of in the future!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 9 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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TheLomaxx
on 2018-07-17 15:16:27

A lovely remix of a great song. I like it a lot because of the instrument arrangement that live up to the original and improve it even further.

However there is something that flaws my joy when listening to it. And it's hard for me to describe it because I neither am a native English speaker/writer, nor am firm in musical terminology. I give it a try anyway and hope that it's understood as constructive criticism.

The "bass" accompaniment that starts at 1:01 differs from the original, resulting in a different harmonic together with the lead. Maybe it's not even "wrong". In the end this is a remix, not a 1:1-cover and Tuberz McGee might have intentionally chosen it. But to me it sounds off, because my brain is used to the original so much, that it expects a different harmonic. If I am not mistaken, then the difference is on the second stroke, where in the original is goes up, but in this remix it goes down. Maybe there are other differences. I am having a hard time to tell.

As already mentioned above I still like the remix, but I would die .... wait a moment, no ... I would kill ... erm ... no, not even that. But I would love to listen to a version of this song where the harmonics are exactly as in the original. I know it's not going to happen. I am just dreaming a bit. :)

Still thank you very much for creating this nice remix and sharing it with us.

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Crulex
on 2018-03-13 01:46:24

This is really cool! I liked the original enough as it was (especially the remastered Native American sounding version), but giving it this Oriental makeover was fun to hear because I'm also a huge fan of this kind of arrangement style and Eastern instruments. Sounds elegant and comfortably soothing, a fantastic solo ReMix indeed. This one really made me smile.

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DjjD
on 2015-12-02 19:41:12

Man, this is pretty sweet dude.

I can distinctly remember playing this whole segment in Final Fantasy VII, and it's cool how close you kept it to the original, while giving it a little more oriental flare. Congrats on getting your first solo post on OCR!

P.S. Happy belated birthday!

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Brandon Strader
on 2015-11-05 19:14:05

Very nice work Tuberz! I don't know why it took you this long to get a solo post, but this is definitely a first post to be very proud of very good stuff.

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DimeTower
on 2015-10-22 00:54:21

I like this! An original take on a familiar source, and I have to admit some admiration for how you found an instrument selection that seems to enhance the feel of what was already there. At parts it really reminds me of Okami, which is a very good thing. The mix starts pretty close to the vest, but 2:15-3:15 really shows some flair and some nice overlaying of melody and harmonies. No idea what Tuberz was going on about, unless they're trolling - this is a really good piece and even more impressive as a debut!

Well done!

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Magiteknight
on 2015-10-21 23:02:57

This is fantastic, very relaxing!

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Tuberz McGee
on 2015-10-20 20:39:25

What the hell man there aren't even any guitars in this mix 0/10 good try tho

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KingTiger
on 2015-10-20 15:51:48

DUDE CALLUM!!!!!!111! yissssss congrats on your 1st solo mixpost!!

This seriously is really good, and not what I expected from you (but seriously you're always surprising me, so I shouldn't be surprised :P). Mixed well, sequenced well, the mood is frekking fantastic. Grood Jorb D00D!

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Liontamer
on 2015-10-20 12:24:05

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

Sources Arranged (2 Songs)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy VII (Sony , 1997, PS1)
Music by Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Cid's Theme"
"Cosmo Canyon"

Tags (6)


Genre:
Folk
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Strings,Woodwinds
Additional:
Regional > Chinese
Regional > Japanese
Time > 4/4 Time Signature

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_7_Honour_Pride_Green_Tea_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
7,591,384 bytes
MD5:
4305e757a4e5a9e05c26db28dfc9a62b
Bitrate:
220Kbps
Duration:
4:32

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