Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream Comments from album director Andrew Aversa (zircon), assistant director David W. Lloyd (djpretzel), and ReMixers Album freely available at http://ff7.ocremix.org When it comes to video games, I've never been on the cutting edge of technology. For example, not only do I not own any next-gen consoles, but I'm still catching up on PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance games. Ten years ago, as a ten year old kid, things weren't much different. While I was still renting an SNES and Chrono Trigger from the local video store, several of my friends had already picked up a shiny new PlayStation. Given that I was always slightly behind the times, I was still enjoying Final Fantasy 4 and 6 when the ads for Final Fantasy VII started rolling out. Frankly, I couldn't have been less excited. I remember seeing a huge ad with Barret in front of a Funcoland and thinking, "That doesn't look like the Final Fantasy I know." Guns? Motorcycles? Dark, futuristic cities? I scoffed and ignored all things Final Fantasy VII until a friend of mine invited me over a week or so after its release to play it for the first time. I don't think I've ever been more enthralled with a video game than I was when I first saw my friend moving Cloud through the slums of Sector 7. I was immediately hooked. Between the dark, detailed atmosphere, incredible graphics, fluid battle movement, sharp sound effects, and incredible music, every aspect of the game was exciting and captivating. However, I didn't really get to experience the game myself until the next year, when it came out for PC -- of course, my own computer was too underpowered for it, so I played it every day at my neighbor's house. To this day, I have nothing but fond memories of the countless hours I spent playing through Final Fantasy VII and experiencing its story and music with wide-eyed amazement. I'm sure tens of millions of other people share a similar history with the game. So, as you might imagine, nostalgia was partly what motivated me to start Voices of the Lifestream eight years later in January of 2006. I had already participated on the Kong in Concert project and thoroughly enjoyed Chrono Symphonic , which had been released just a week or two prior. I was perhaps also influenced by my re-playing of Final Fantasy VII when I first arrived at Drexel University in the fall of 2005, this time on a computer more than fast enough to actually handle it. I set to work contacting dozens of ReMixers from the OCR community and beyond, started a private project forum, and assembled a track list. Fast forward to now, over a year and a half later. There is no question that Voices has been a massive undertaking, far beyond what I could have ever imagined. I had anticipated six months -- at most -- and a mere 20 or 30 mixes. I could not have expected the motivation and enthusiasm of all the remixers who had accepted my invitation, nor could I have expected the countless people asking me to come on board to help complete tracks that no one else had taken. I admit that at first, I was unsure of taking on some remixers who I had never heard of and who had not even been posted on OCR yet. But as it turns out, these individuals have been vital to the project and produced some fantastic arrangements. In the end, Voices of the Lifestream has forty-five arrangements from Final Fantasy VII and features the talent of forty-four ReMixers. A huge variety of genres, from soft, acoustic guitar duets, to heavy metal, smooth jazz, Broadway-style piano solo, drum n' bass, hard trance, film score-style orchestral, and more, has been represented. I would like to thank every single one of the forty-four talented musicians who contributed to the music on this project. Without your hard work, this project would simply not exist. After seeing people stay up until 6AM mastering a WAV to get it in to me on time, I think I can finally forgive some of you for making me nag about deadlines. ;) Additionally, I would like to give a special thanks to Jillian, who has been continually supportive of me throughout the life of the project, despite its burdensome nature -- especially towards the end -- and who was responsible for formatting, collecting, and editing the vast majority of the content you see on the "Artists" page, as well as providing feedback on a number of project details that has been invaluable to me. A big special thanks also goes out to djpretzel, who has been rooting for Voices from day one and has contributed a great deal of time in promoting it, designing the website, CD art, and giving the project its actual name. Yet more people also deserve extra praise: Larry Oji (Liontamer), for assisting with countless details and naming numerous remixes, Jon Titterington (JJT) who assisted Larry in determining the final tracklist, Will Roget (bustatunez), Cain McCormack (Fishy), and Mattias Häggström Gerdt for helping myself and others shape our remixes, and anyone else who I may have neglected to mention who has gone above and beyond in helping this project become what it is now. It has been over 20 months since I first announced on Larry's VG Frequency radio show that I was starting this remix project, torturing FF7 fans every day with my refusal to release all but the smallest of tidbits of information and previews. Now, the wait is finally over. Enjoy! - Andrew Aversa Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream. This is, quite simply, the largest single project OverClocked ReMix has undertaken, and when you hear the end result, I think you'll see what all the fuss is about. Start downloading the torrent now; it's a big one. Judge and ReMixer Andrew Aversa started this whole thing way back in January of 2006, and now, 45 mixes, forty-plus artists, 4 CDs, countless sleepless nights, and copious quantities of caffeine later, it's finally seeing the light of day. It's the first OC ReMix album covering any game from the Final Fantasy series, and coincides with the recent ten-year anniversary of its namesake, Final Fantasy VII. Today also marks the Japanese release date for Square Enix's Crisis Core for the PSP. When Andy first approached me with this project idea, my first thought was: why not FF6? Like many fans, I was more familiar with and preferred the classic SNES score, and only knew three or four pieces from the FF7 OST. That soon changed, however, as the numerous talented artists that joined up showed me just how much I was missing. I am literally floored by the final result of everyone's efforts - when I finally got the time to sit down and listen to the whole project, back to back (a three and a half hour endeavour, mind you!), it was... emotional. This album represents the quintessential dream that motivated me to start OC ReMix in the first place, way back in 1999. It honors a great and often underrated score, it covers both popular themes and more esoteric ones, it brings artists from all over the world together to create a cohesive whole, it spans multiple musical genres, and it honors the original composer, the art of arrangement, and video game music in general. Every ReMixer involved with this project came through with their best; as Jayson Napolitano of Music 4 Games wrote in his review, it really is simply a massive work. Somehow Andy - one of the most laid-back, easygoing guys I know - was able to corral over forty artists to collaborate on this and, especially towards the end, consistently meet deadlines. I honestly don't know how he did it. I think he used lasers... or robots... or dark magics. Or perhaps all three, combined. Mind you, at the same time he was working on his own contributions AND continuing to judge for OC ReMix. Of course, he had help and support from Jillian, who helped track down mixer bios and photos, amongst other things. I chipped in myself on the site design, artwork, album title, and PR stuff, but this was definitely Andy's baby, through and through. I think he's probably lost half his hair and shaved at least five years off his lifespan in the process, so hopefully you'll dig the album on some level, if only to make him feel better about being bald and closer to death... seriously, though, I think FF7: VotL has something for everyone, and you won't have to try too hard or look too long to find a track (or ten) that you're into. As a testament to video game music as an art form that transcends musical genre and can appeal to anyone and everyone, Andy's accomplished something with Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream that is truly momentous. - David W. Lloyd --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1-01. Jillian Aversa, zircon - "Deliverance of the Heart" Source: "Heart of Anxiety" Jillian Aversa: arrangement, lyrics, vocals zircon: arrangement zircon: Some of you may have already heard the full piece during our Game Music Radio interview with Brian and Becky of "The Next Level," or in the last moments of our final bout with VGDJ. Needless to say, it's been hard to keep this one a total secret, but we're both extremely excited to finally release "Deliverance of the Heart" for download. We were looking forward to arranging this particular source tune right off the bat, as we are both admirers of Sting's later releases - which combine New Age and electronic textures with poignant, "soaring" vocals. "Heart of Anxiety" lends itself well to this particular genre of music, achieving the perfect balance between dark atmosphere and a hopeful, uplifting melody. The underlying production of the piece involved a ton of percussive layers (at least a dozen electronic + acoustic), along with numerous synth pads, strings, pianos, and many other instruments. The idea was to create a soft, but dynamic backdrop for Jill's original vocal melodies. The whole thing builds up to a powerful section featuring her lyric-less singing, along with ethnic instruments and a new chord progression right before the lush final chorus. Neither of us had any idea where the lyrics would be headed when Jill set off to write them, but she returned with the words of a love song - soothing and warm. It was after much deliberation that we finally arrived on the "perfect" title, but it came to us both simultaneously... And if that isn't a telling sign, I don't know what is. It's electronic, it's New Age, it's got beautiful vocals, and we're very proud of it! 1-02. Big Giant Circles, zircon - "Every Story Begins with a Name" Source: "Opening - Bombing Mission -" Big Giant Circles: arrangement zircon: additional instrumentation and mastering zircon: BGC came to me with WIPs of this remix, which was essentially constructed in two parts - the Opening theme and Bombing Mission. I really liked the new electronic elements that he added in the Opening while retaining its epic melody. However, I felt that it could have used more 'impact' in its production values. So, I offered to polish it up a bit. I basically re-mastered the first part, adding some of my own synth instrumentation as well to double the melody. The Bombing Mission portion of the remix was really great and hardly needed any work at all - I just tweaked the mastering a bit to get it to match the volume of the first part. This is one of my all time favorite sources from FF7 and I'm really glad Jimmy did it justice here. VotL wouldn't have been a complete project without a standout mix of these themes. 1-03. sephfire, SGX - "No Such Thing As the Promised Land" Source: "Mako Reactor" sephfire: arrangement SGX: additional arrangement, instrumentation, and mastering sephfire: This is a remix that SGX and I collaborated on for the Voices of the Lifestream project. It covers the Mako Reactor theme from FF7. Like our previous collaboration ("Intense Color"), I composed the first draft, a rough arrangement that was around 70% complete, and passed it on to Danny, who proceeded to work his phat beatz magic. It's been an honor to work together with one of my favorite remixers again. I hope the opportunity presents itself again in the future. SGX: sephfire's work really gels with my style and always is a huge springboard for me in terms of ideas. It's never hard to find things to add to an already slick track to make it double mega awesome 2X. Like our last collab ("Intense Color"), the arrangement he gave to me in a Reason file was extremely cool already, I just added a larger beat, a bit more motion, lots of effects tricks, a couple more sections, and some general mixing and mastering. Get ready for some slick ambient sounds and industrial cruch with a heavy beat. 1-04. LuIzA - "Materia Junkie" Sources: "Under the Rotting Pizza," "The Oppressed" LuIzA: arrangement, guitar 1-05. norg, SnappleMan - "Full Frontal Assault" Source: "Let the Battles Begin!" norg: arrangement, guitar SnappleMan: arrangement, guitar SnappleMan: ...it was completely 50/50. We sent the project back and forth, each one of us adding a new section to the song. In the end, I ended up doing all the lead guitars and most of the rhythm guitars (all the 7 string rhythm work was done by norg), I did most of the bass, and about 65% of the drums. norg did most of the synth and keyboard work, a good bit of the drums, and the halftime section in the middle of the song was all done by him. The arrangement went 50/50, while driven by norg's initial demo, which we kept verbatim as the first minute or so of the song. I made it a point to divide the work evenly (mainly because I wanted to get as much of norg's unique style in the song as possible). 1-06. Mattias Häggström Gerdt - "Too Much Fighting" Source: "Fanfare" Mattias Häggström Gerdt: So. More Voices of the Lifestream? Well you did see this coming, didn't you? I actually started this remix as a fairly standard jazz adaption of the Fanfare theme. Like aluminum and "Climhazzard Rush" (this is kind of a tribute to that song, BTW), I focused more on the chord progression after the classic fanfare. When I got bored, I tried some new stuff to my jazz WIP and realized, "man, I need to make this electronic." So, I did. I started off with some dub inspired groove electro, making it interesting with a Rhodes solo. I have to be honest, at first JJT was going to do this, but the compliments I got from zircon kinda got to my head and I wanted to do everything myself. Something I still kinda regret, seeing how good JJT actually is. This doesn't mean I'm unhappy with the result though, more like the opposite. To make some kind of breakdown, I used some glocks and sampled a line from Final Fantasy VII: Last Order. I still have no idea what it means, but it sounds pretty good. Then I went overboard again. :) Acoustic drums with trance synths really gives a fat soundscape. I used this technique again in my Jade Cocoon remix, but this is where you heard it first! When I got here, I just couldn't resist incorporating the lovable Jenova theme and I just kinda went from there. The thing I'm most proud of is probably the part when it goes back to the groove. All the different melodic elements really sit right, IMHO. Most new melodies were improvised, but I'm pretty confident I did a good job there. Now, I'm almost done, but first I need to do something important. Like THANK YOU, ZIRCON. I don't think I even said this, but honestly, if it weren't for him I wouldn't be here. He helped me so much on the project, so I went from crappy sketch to making this almost without extra constructive criticism. All in one project. So let me use this final sentence to say this: thank you for making Voices of the Lifestream one of the best experiences I've ever had. 1-07. Danny Baranowsky - "Damn Those Turks!" Source: "Turks' Theme" Danny Baranowsky: My mindset for this remix was along the lines of Prodigy meets Morricone. That probably isn't where it ended up, but I wanted to use every part of the source while making it into a more electronic and menacing mix. I had the idea that the Turks' theme, re-imagined, would be abrasive and threatening, while the middle section is more reflective, sort of how they do seem to have a hidden shred of good intentions. The fadeout at the end is indicative of how they just kind of fade away when their work is done. The mix was made entirely with Reason, and I used a public domain Gregorian plainchant sample to back the piano section. The guitar riffs are all samples that were cut up, rearranged, and processed w/ automated distortion to make it sound all live (there are no actual live parts in the mix). For the foundation of the mix, I took the (very) few ideas of the original and extrapolated chord progressions from them. 1-08. Big Giant Circles, zircon, Liontamer - "Adrenalyne Kyck" Source: "Hurry!" Big Giant Circles, zircon: arrangement: Liontamer: spoken word "In the real world things are very different. You just need to look around you. Nobody wants to die that way. People die of disease and accident. Death comes suddenly and there is no notion of good or bad. It leaves, not a dramatic feeling but great emptiness. When you lose someone you loved very much you feel this big empty space and think, 'If I had known this was coming I would have done things differently.'" - Yoshinori Kitase, Edge Magazine, May 2003, as read by Larry "Liontamer" Oji 1-09. zircon - "Nomura Limit" Source: "Fight On!" 1-10. Xaleph - "Son of Chaos" Source: "Shinra, Inc" 1-11. Sixto Sounds, zircon - "Lunatic Moon" Sources: "Red XIII's Theme," "Cosmo Canyon" Sixto Sounds: arrangement, guitar zircon: arrangement Sixto Sounds: Andy asked me to join his remix project Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream and I chose Red XIII's theme as my source. I had Andy listen to a clip of what I was working on and he loved it. Eventually this became a collaboration between Andy and I, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. It's a fusion of my fast-paced hard rock riffing with Andy's ethnic electronica. Enjoy it and check out the rest of the project as well. zircon: This mix of "Cosmo Canyon" and "Red XIII's Theme" was not initially my idea. Sixto kicked off this one; he sent me an MP3 of the first part of the mix, prior to the ethnic stuff playing the main theme. I thought what he had was very much like the Black Mages in terms of performance and style, but even more interpretive. I then added the ethnic section that perhaps most naturally sum up Red XIII's character, sent it back, he loved it, and we went from there. We wanted to give the original theme a nice, heavy metal treatment while also incorporating electronic bits such as drums and synths. The end result is a heavy, driving mix that really owes its high level of energy to Sixto's fantastic guitar and drum work. \m/ Though, I did have fun soloing! 1-12. tefnek - "motor crazycycle" Source: "Crazy Motorcycle" 2-01. djpretzel, Vig - "Short Skirts" Source: "Tifa's Theme" djpretzel: arrangement Vig: arrangement, guitar djpretzel: 2007 was SUPPOSED to be the year that I returned to my more prolific ReMix release schedule from days of yore. In actuality, I do have seven or eight works-in-progress sitting around that I need to just FINISH, and up until Andy approached me with this project, my Tifa mix was one of those. Yes, I was actually working on this before the project was created; it was simply fortuitous that Andy invited me to contribute and I already had something in the works. This is my first ReMix collaboration - though "Town Life" with Taucer was released in July of last year, this mix was already in progress at that time, and Jesse had already visited to record the guitar part. That's a whole story in and of itself, with great imbibing of strong substance and IRC shenanigans, but from a musical perspective, it worked really well. I had a rough sketch of the melody I was looking for, and Jesse worked around that with several permutations. It was a pretty fluid and expedient collaboration, perhaps because we chose to postpone our revelries until AFTER we had finished it. So, what was I trying for with this? Well, for starters, I love the Tifa theme. I tend to like dominant, memorable melodies, and Tifa's track definitely fits that description, so I was drawn to it. As many of you know, one of my personal goals that I also love to see other artists doing is trying to work in multiple genres. I didn't really have anything on the site yet that represented a truer approach to what I'd call "jazz," and I was inspired to create something in the style of Neskvartetten, whom I deeply admire and respect. While the Tifa theme has wonderful melody and harmony, it's rather static rhythmically, with a constant, quantized feel. That's specifically what steered me towards jazz - I wanted to hear this great melody that Uematsu wrote injected with some rhythmic playfulness. The title, "Short Skirts," alludes both to Tifa's fondness for rather skimpy bottoms (I ain't complainin') and to the concept of doing three consecutive brief variations on the main melody. Jesse's jazz guitar is first, then a duet of sorts between vibes and EP, then finally organ with a drum dropout. The reason this took a hundred times longer than it should have is that Jesse did perhaps too good a job on his part - after the guitar solo, I was stuck with what to follow with. I finally decided on vibes, but it wasn't until I added in the EP doing a sort of call-and-response bit and livened up the drum track (all parts recorded live into sequencer) that this decision actually started not sucking. From a tonal and rhythmic complexity perspective, I think this is one of my best and most mature ReMixes to date. The cello plays a key role in flying over the underlying, interlocking parts with legato passages that ascend and descend. I had a blast doing drums for this - there's lot of going ahead or behind the beat, particularly on the vibes section, that all would have been lost with any sort of quantization. Quantum Leap Colossus was used for almost everything you hear, and is a great library for those looking to do jazz arrangement in my opinion. I'm so glad to have been part of this project. When I listen to the other tracks this mix is side by side with, I'm honored to be in such company. I feel like Jesse and I added something different to the album, but something that fits in, too. This arrangement was a major headache for me in terms of finding my focus and coming up with a second half that I could really get fully behind, but - while it's not as accessible or immediately catchy as my other stuff - I feel like the end result is some of my strongest work yet. I'd like to thank Jesse for the excellent Scotch he brought along with him and a guitar part the arrangement couldn't have lived without, Nobuo Uematsu, Neskvartetten, and Yo-Yo Ma for inspiration, and Andrew Aversa for inviting me onto the project, letting me do the artwork and website, and for putting together a project that shows the very best OverClocked ReMix has to offer. 2-02. Jeremy Robson - "Valse Aeris" Sources: "Flowers Blooming in the Church," "Aerith's Theme" Jeremy Robson: For anyone familiar with my past arrangements, it should come as no surprise that I set out to turn Aeris's theme into a waltz using the works of Maurice Ravel as a model. To me, putting the up-tempo nature of a waltz against the sentimental makes for an interesting contrast, and what piece from Final Fantasy 7 is more sentimental than this? While keeping up with the ever-changing, impressionistic harmonies and the colorful orchestrations was a challenge unto itself, the biggest obstacle was finding new ways to not just reference Aeris's theme, but to make it the primary source of all counterpoint and variation... in a triple meter, no less. 2-03. Hemophiliac - "Embraced Empathy" Source: "Dear to the Heart" 2-04. Mustin, Tim Yarbrough, Lisa Leamons, Jennifer Graham - "Serenity" Source: "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY VII" Mustin: arrangement Tim Yarbrough: guitar Lisa Leamons: vocals Jennifer Graham: vocals Dale North: mastering Mustin: I really put this track together at the very last minute. I mean less than a week away from the deadline. I remember that I had Tim Yarbrough (guitar player from The OneUps) the nite before New Year's Eve to lay down the guitar tracks. I stayed up really late editing them and in the morning, I had Lisa Leamons and Jennifer Graham over to lay down the vocals. I would have had plenty of time to put it all together, but for whatever reason, one of my clients was getting married on New Year's Eve and she asked that I be there. So I took Lisa to the wedding, dropped her off, and then ran into my house where a HUGE New Year's Eve party was happening and finished editing this track just in time for the midnight deadline. Somehow I managed to pull it together, 'cause everyone seemed to like it. For this project, I was able to go back, finish all of my edits and have Dale North do a quick remix and mastering job for me. I love this track. It has a special place in my heart. It's dedicated to Lisa and I hope that everyone enjoys it. 2-05. Dhsu - "A Life Without Parole" Source: "Desert Wasteland" Dhsu: arrangement, piano Dhsu: So yeah, it was bound to happen...in a moment of weakness and lapse of better judgment, I finally caved and did a Final Fantasy arrangement. It guess it's just destiny for piano remixers and Square to be together, like so much peanut butter and Nutella (I call it a peanutella sandwich). Anyway, the source tune here is "Sandy Badlands." The arrangement is a bit sparse at times, in part to reflect the desolation of the Corel Prison. There's also a reference to "Death Sea ~ Tower of Ruin" from Chrono Cross in the left hand about a minute in, because I felt like it. Then the second time through, the melody takes on a Middle Eastern tint for some reason...probably to make it sound sandy. Or something. And finally you hear a hint of hope, as your lawyer just called and said you can get off on self-defense, or at the very worst feigned insanity. Thanks go to zircon this time for rendering this for me. That means if it's too soft or the encoding bitrate is too low, you can bug him about it. ;) 2-06. Suzumebachi, Sixto Sounds, zircon - "Scenes from a Memory" Source: "On That Day, Five Years Ago" Suzumebachi: arrangement, sequencing, guitar Sixto Sounds: guitar zircon: pads, synth leads Suzumebachi: Checks it out, another Suzumebachi submission! Isn't that incrediballs? This one is from VotL. This mix has been a long (LONG) time coming. I started it back in January 2006, when I first got on the FF7 project. I poked and prodded it for many months, much to the chagrin of zircon. Most of the hangup came from problems recording guitars -- my main guitar died in a gigging mishap before I had finished all the recordings, leaving me just an old beat up Epi with busted pickups to record with. However, Sixto was gracious enough to provide me with a balls busting solo, so in the end it worked out well (and probably for the better cuz that dude is amazing and I have slow fatty sausage fingers). Additionally, zircon was kind enough to help finish with the mixing side of things (and he added some fun synthy crud in there as well). So basically what we have here is a collab, with arrangement, sequencing and guitars by Suzumebachi, incrediballs guitar solo by Sixto, and pads and synth leads by Mr. Aversa. Enjoy! :D 2-07. Geoffrey Taucer, Tepid - "Golden Fields" Source: "Farm Boy" Geoffrey Taucer: arrangement, guitar Tepid: arrangement 2-08. Trenthian - "Crystal Sermon" Source: "The Prelude" 2-09. Rellik - "Chasing the Storm" Source: "In Search of the Man in Black" 2-10. Tweex - "Sephiroth's Wake" Source: "Trail of Blood" Tweex: My idea and concept for this piece was simple: how would Harry Gregson-Williams do this piece if he was remixing it in the MGS style? In particular, I wanted to capture the "infiltration" genre that he would create. This certainly wasn't easy. Mr. Williams has learned his trade well and has crafted a style of music that is not easy to replicate. The track also proved difficult by remixing a source tune that has no defined tempo. Despite Nobuo's best efforts to thwart someone from remixing this track and Mr. Williams tricky genre, I feel I was able to accomplish something that I'm proud of. :) The picture I had in mind was the gang getting out of their cells and as they make they're way through the Shinra building, they bare witness to the havoc that Jenova and Sephiroth have brought upon the people in their way. Special thanks to Reuben Kee, who gave me some wonderful feedback and help with samples to perfect the sound. 2-11. bLiNd - "JENOVA Celestial" Source: "J-E-N-O-V-A" 2-12. Hy Bound - "Mark of the Beatsmith" Source: "Mark of a Traitor" 3-01. Red Tailed Fox - "Suco de Melancia" Source: "Costa del Sol" Red Tailed Fox: Olá pessoal, I know I told zircon I wouldn't submit this, but I was so moved by the massive release of VotL that I couldn't control myself, so here it is! =D I almost called this song "Hojo is unavailable right now; please leave your message after the beep." I mean, making port in a tropical resort after fighting a grotesque monster inside an evil organization ship is awesome in it's own right, but meeting said organization's own sick scientist chilling at the beach, surrounded by ladies and drinking cocktails (with little umbrellas on them) is actually the fondest memory I have from FF7. A memory which is probably distorted by the long time passed since I last played the game, but very dear to me nonetheless, so believe it not, this song goes for Hojo: even sick and disgusting evil geniuses need to take a break every now and then. 3-02. Shnabubula - "Stone Eyes" Source: "The Great Warrior" Shnabubula: arrangement, piano 3-03. Pot Hocket - "Daydreaming Again" Source: "Words Drowned by Fireworks" Pot Hocket: arrangement, guitar 3-04. Trenthian - "Alien Exploration" Sources: "Gold Saucer," "Cid's Theme" 3-05. Mattias Häggström Gerdt - "Golden Feathers" Source: "Win / Place / Show Chocobo!" Mattias Häggström Gerdt: This ReMix was done for the FF7 ReMix compo on two days notice using only Reason 3.0. After that, zircon contacted me about joining the FF7 project. I finished the remix and was very happy with it. "Too bad I can't submit it," I thought since I didn't realize you could submit project ReMixes. Then zircon told me and here I am. :) I started it as a d'n'b "on drugs" kinda song, but the day after I felt that I needed something more since I wasn't that good at electronic music to begin with. Thus, the ethnic part was born. My pride and joy. And even more "on drugs." Actually, that's pretty much what I wanted to say. This is a remix of an annoying theme on drugs. Admit you thought that chocobo jockey with the black hat, Joe, was kinda strange. Now you know he's really a dealer! Enjoy! 3-06. Red Tailed Fox, Shnabubula - "Midnight at Club Corel" Source: "Mining Town" Red Tailed Fox: arrangement Shnabubula: arrangement, piano 3-07. FFmusic Dj - "Ahead on Our Rave" Source: "On Our Way" 3-08. Darangen - "Kweh!" Source: "Electric de Chocobo" Darangen: arrangement, guitar 3-09. Jovette Rivera - "The Crossroads" Source: "Cid's Theme" Jovette Rivera: arrangement, vocals Jovette Rivera: I knew this song had to be special, an outlet that I hadn't tapped into yet. I wanted to combine the intensity of heavy metal and techno, with the energy of hip hop and breakbeats, with the dramatic and anthemic feelings of classical and opera. I've always loved "Cid's Theme," and unlike some other songs from FFVII, there's more than one consistent melody in this song. I then thought this would make a ideal song for building upon (i.e. intro, verse, chorus, bridge) and implementing lyrics, as seems to be my signature. I hope everyone enjoys the song, I know it's been a while. Thank you, everyone. 3-10. bLiNd, Leifo - "Fading Entity" Source: "Listen to the Cries of the Planet" bLiNd: arrangement Leifo: arrangement, guitar bLiNd: This track was side by side with Leifo almost for the whole creation of it. All the ideas we had were fed off of each other. It was a really rewarding experience. We came up with something unique and Leifo's guitar playing was icing on the cake. The new chord progression really makes it dance/trance genre friendly and changing time signature from 3/4 to 4/4 was a small hurdle, but worked out well. A little on the moody side, but that's thanks to the source tune. Hope you guys enjoy it! 3-11. Tweex - "Frozen Landscape" Source: "Buried in Snow" 4-01. Pot Hocket - "Sleep, My Sephy" Source: "Judgment Day" Pot Hocket: arrangement, guitar 4-02. Darangen - "Collision" Source: "The North Cave" Darangen: arrangement, guitar Darangen: It's a remix of "The Great Northern Cave," the music that plays on the overworld after meteor has been summoned. Hope you enjoy it. 4-03. Star Salzman - "Airships Make Me Happy" Source: "The Highwind Takes to the Skies" 4-04. JJT - "Hydrophone Breakdown" Source: "Secret of the Deep Sea" JJT: arrangement, trumpet, guitar, bass JJT: ReMixing has always motivated me to expand my musical palette. My goal for "Hydrophone Breakdown" was to delve into the soundscapes of more experimental bands like The Flaming Lips and The Most Serene Republic. What I like about the original is its drawn-out structure, and interesting harmonic progressions. I tried to hold onto those elements while reinventing everything else. Producing this track also gave me a great chance to demo my Nord Electro Rack, which was responsible for the piano, Rhodes, and B3 sounds. The drum programming was done in Fruity, as was the synth bass (with 3xOSC). The live instrumentation was care of my trusty Bach Stradivarius, the beater Yamaha guitar I used in "Anthem," and my friend's Ernie Ball Musicman bass, which shows up at the end. I also recorded the backwards guitar parts specifically for this, but can't remember what guitar or amp I used. The bridge from the original is a clever bit of writing, so turning that into its own segment of the ReMix was easily the most satisfying part of the arrangement. Before I finish, I'd like to say that I'm honored to have my track featured on a project this impressive (both in terms of size and quality). I'd also like to thank Jimmy (BGC), Chris (Hemophiliac), and Mattias Häggström Gerdt for their feedback, Andy (zircon) for the small (but appreciated) production touchups, and the other artists on VotL for rocking my aural cavities with awesomeness. 4-05. Fishy - "Omnislash" Source: "Hurry Up!" Fishy: arrangement, guitar Fishy: This started off with a Dream Theater influence, but who knows what the crap it turned into. I just wanted to sneak on to the FF7 project, so I made most of this ReMix in a week, which is an improvement on my normal remixing time by around 8 months. Yes, the name is crap. Bet you guys are getting sick of FF7 by now. 4-06. The Orichalcon, bustatunez - "Rare Square" Sources: "Countdown," "The North Cave" The Orichalcon: arrangement bustatunez: additional arrangement and instrumentation The Orichalcon: I started working on the remix of "Countdown Begins" as a challenge to take one of the cinematic tracks and turn it into what might be useable as background music. There wasn't really enough material in it, so I also included the Great Northern Cave music. I needed someone who could do some proper cinematic-style strings and instrumentation for the piece, so Andy recommended bustatunez. I sent the track to him, and he very quickly came up with the awesome strings for the track as well as some other parts. We shaped it out a bit further going back and forth, and ended up with "Rare Square." bustatunez: I'd wanted to contribute to OC ReMix for quite some time, so when I was approached to collaborate with Lee on this track, I jumped at the opportunity. Basically, I provided the strings and other orchestral elements, giving the track an independent hook while also tying it in with other themes from FF7 and incorporating my own "gestural" approach to orchestration. Any resemblance to the Bond franchise is purely coincidental. ;-) 4-07. Steffan Andrews - "Jenova Returns" Sources: "J-E-N-O-V-A," "Jenova Complete" Steffan Andrews: The aim of this track was to act as if it were a film score cue from of a movie. It bounces and toys with the Jenova theme with the tenacity of a child with ADHD. The stylings are an interpretation of many different influences from the film music world, with a fondness for the quirkiness of Danny Elfman sewn into the arrangement. My favorite passage is the concluding 60 seconds of the track - ending with violin bows flying, a ritualistic sacrifice of a Steinway, and the horn players crowd surfing over the woodwind section. I had a lot of fun writing this, and it was my goal to make it just as fun to listen to. 4-08. bLiNd - "Beginning of the End" Source: "Birth of a God" 4-09. Steffan Andrews, Suzumebachi, tefnek, bLiNd, Jillian Aversa, Sixto Sounds, Fishy - "Black Wing Metamorphosis" Source: "One-Winged Angel" Steffan Andrews: arrangement lead, orchestration Suzumebachi: arrangement (chiptune) tefnek: arrangement (big beat) bLiNd: arrangement (choir) Jillian Aversa: vocals Sixto Sounds: arrangement (industrial), guitar Fishy: guitar zircon: Steffan Andrews was the major force behind this track. He arranged and orchestrated the entire thing and performed all the processing, mixing, and mastering. All the orchestral parts you hear are from him, as well as the bass, a guitar overlay, and a sizable chunk of the percussion. Before he decided to step up, many of the mixers involved had their own ideas, and bLiNd had even painstakingly written and rendered the entire choir part, but no one had a single cohesive arrangement idea. Once Steffan showed us his first WIP - which was less than a minute long - other mixers were immediately motivated to add their own elements to it. Suzumebachi wrote a short chiptune incorporating "One-Winged Angel" plus a few other themes, which became the quirky intro to the remix. tefnek produced the driving, big beat drum track that plays throughout, while Sixto added some heavy industrial sounds to a few sections to spice it up. Fishy recorded a rhythm guitar track to be layered with the MIDI rhythm guitars, and for the climax at the end, Sixto added a screaming guitar solo. Lastly, Jillian replaced the sampled soprano part with fresh, live vox and improvised some new parts as well. Though the resultant remix is not nearly as long as the original, both Steffan, the other mixers involved, and myself all agreed that trying to make an epic, 7+ minute arrangement would be futile. After all, Advent Children already did that, and if we tried, people would say we were just attempting to imitate them. Instead, we have a fun, high-energy, badass remix that takes the best parts of the source and expands them with the talents of a whopping seven remixers. 4-10. Bladiator - "The Golden Ivories of Gaia" Sources: "Lifestream," "Main Theme of FINAL FANTASY VII," "Tifa's Theme," "On Our Way," "Electric de Chocobo," "Gold Saucer," "Aerith's Theme," "Other Side of the Mountain," "Jackpot!," "J-E-N-O-V-A," "Let the Battles Begin!," "Fanfare," "Good Night, Until Tomorrow" Bladiator: arrangement, piano This is a piece that I started because I said to myself, "What is it that OCR hates/has too much of more than anything?" The answer that I came up with was: Final Fantasy 7 and medleys (FF7 being the thing that they have too much of, medleys are the thing that they -- the judges and djp -- hate). So I had the need to come up with a FF7 medley that would be a shoe-in for the site. Well, after I wrote it, I saw that Voices of the Lifestream was still being finished up, so I sent my song to zircon to see if he wanted to include it, and for some reason, he did!