[News] Final Fantasy VII arrange album 'Voices of the Lifestream' by OverClocked ReMix

Who: OverClocked ReMix, a fan-driven video game music tribute site, and over 40 of its artists
What: "Voices of the Lifestream," a Final Fantasy VII fan arrangement album
When: Set for release Friday, September 14th, 2007
Where: http://ff7.ocremix.org
Why: 45 tracks, 4 CDs, and over 3 1/2 hours worth of music
How: Over 1 1/2 years of collaborative effort, led by Andrew "zircon" Aversa
How MUCH?: $0; The album is freely available through single track download and BitTorrent distribution

Larry Oji here, head submissions evaluator of OverClocked ReMix. We've got a new album set to drop this Friday, and would love for you to spread the word and check it out this coming weekend.

Listed above are the basics regarding the album, which we hope you'll enjoy. If you or anyone you know is a media contact of any type, radio, newspaper, magazine, blog, etc. we would love for you to keep us in mind after you hear the album and flag us down, as we want to do everything we can to spread the word about OC ReMix's biggest fan-driven effort yet.

For any media requests, please contact dlloyd@ocremix.org, and we will see what we can do to accommodate any requests for interviews or additional information.

Music 4 Games was given an exclusive pre-release look at the album, and the reviews were all very positive, so we hope you'll be there this weekend to see the end result of 20 months of work.

VG Frequency: VG Frequency » Blog Archive » Final Fantasy VII “Voices of the Lifestream” pre-release thoughts
Music 4 Games: Music 4 Games -- The Future of Rock n' Roll & Interactive Entertainment. Est. 1999.
Destructoid: Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream album advance review :: DESTRUCTOID :: Hardcore video game blog
Digg: Digg - Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream Remix Album Details and Review

Jam it back in, in the dark.

If this was released last Monday, you guys would have made the game's 10th anniversary for release in the US. As it is you're still rather close. Definitely looking forward to hearing some of the less popular tracks get some arranging love. Definitely NOT looking forward to hearing One-Winged Angel again, but if someone can put an interesting spin on it, I'll eat my words.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

If this was released last Monday, you guys would have made the game's 10th anniversary for release in the US.

That was actually the original plan (although the anniversary was Friday), but last week Tuesday it got delayed because of last minute garbage, you know how it goes. zirc said he only got the final tracks on the 4th.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

Definitely NOT looking forward to hearing One-Winged Angel again, but if someone can put an interesting spin on it, I'll eat my words.

Originally Posted by that music 4 games doohickey

Seven artists take on the iconic theme, “One Winged Angel,” including previously mentioned artists along with BLiNd, Fishy, and Tefnek. The team really dropped the kitchen sink on the piece, titled “Black Wing Metamorphosis,” incorporating chip, orchestral, rock, and electronic elements. A grungified chip version of the melody opens, sounding small and tinny, like it’s coming out of a cellphone, but it quickly gives way to a phantom-like choir pad. Brass, strings and chugging guitars are added before thumping bass and percussion join in; the whole piece is chopped up and rearranged, with glitchy, mechanized noises that make Frankenstein look like America’s top model.

:>

Most amazing jew boots

i'll gladly listen to the whole album, ocremix has some amazing tracks and projects,
counting down the days for it's release

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I know I will be downloading this as soon as I can I can't wait

I was speaking idiomatically.

If you read the review, you'll see that they managed to do something fun with OWA, despite the familiarity of the piece. They did a fantastic job all around.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

I didn't even know this was coming until yesterday... quite a pleasant surprise! The artists mentioned in the Music 4 Games review all have songs on OCReMix that I've enjoyed, so I'm really looking forward to Friday.

FELIPE NO

I must say they did an awesome job on those remixes love the album!!!

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Well I am almost done downloading it I am just downloading the mp3's right now tho there are the wav ver on the torrent (not sure if that means it sounds better for say a audio cd or what)

Jam it back in, in the dark.

Umm why is the torrent 2.5 GB? I guess I will download individual tracks! However, this sounds like a cool project

edit: Haha, FFMUSIC_DJ is back

There's nowhere I can't reach.

Originally Posted by Musharraf

Umm why is the torrent 2.5 GB? I guess I will download individual tracks! However, this sounds like a cool project

edit: Haha, FFMUSIC_DJ is back

Because 300 megs of it are mp3 files, and the rest is uncompressed .wav so if you want them on CD's, you get the best possible sound

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Oh okay then.

Btw, the trance/techno songs are crap, but the other remixes I've listened to so far are very good!!

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

I only wished for Ailsean to do a track. Where is that guy nowadays?

I was speaking idiomatically.

I only listened to the first seven tracks but so far I'm loving this album =D.

Good job OCR.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Originally Posted by Musharraf

Btw, the trance/techno songs are crap, but the other remixes I've listened to so far are very good!!

This pretty much means nothing if you hate trance/techno in general.

Also:

READY...










DOWN

FELIPE NO

It's really, really good. I'm loving the first song, and that will keep me on a loop until I grab the rest via torrent.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

Mustin, Dhsu, LuIza, Tweek, FFMusic Dj, Pot Hocket and Shnabubula - thank you for your arrangements, they were good, for my acquired classical/other intellectual music ass anyway. I tend to like my music blue, with substance and down-to-earth attitude, even if the arrangements themselves were unconventional. (And I'd like Ahead on Our Way and Buried in the Snow even if they were performed by a farting canadian moose quartet.)

The other pieces were of varying levels of lukewarm and uninteresting (basic ocremix stuff), lacking substance and edge - some (only a few, though) even completely unlistenable.

I appreciate all the work hours put into it and hope you get all the publicity you deserve after all this. I can really hear that most of you had fun arranging/performing these, so good for you.

Not so good for me, but that's just my opinion.

Jam it back in, in the dark.

I've listened to this twice. Not bad, but Project Chaos still beats this easily. With the exception of a few tracks, this suffers from a reoccurring problem in these OCR projects. Namely, the problem of people trying to recompose the tracks when they couldn't write a good melody to save their life. They go and totally downplay the original melody, then try to add their own improvisations/phat beets/random riffs, and it sounds like horse dick. I'm all for originality, but all I ask is for one of two things: 1. Keep the original melody largely intact and recognizable. Supplement it however you choose. OR 2. Do whatever you want, but make sure it sounds at least as good as the original. I find that many of these project tracks fail on both accounts.

There's nowhere I can't reach.

^

This is largely the impression I have based off the first twelve tracks. The most enjoyable are the most faithful, not the ones that sound more like they were inspired by the original. Son of Chaos is probably one of the most plain arrangements in the first disc, but easily one of the most enjoyable (not the most enjoyable, because Materia Junkie is awesome). No Such Thing as the Promised Land could have been really good if the build up would have panned out to something more fulfilling. Lunitic Moon is just random. Motor Crazycycle was pretty okay. Probably my favorite song of those that strayed far from the source would be Too Much Fighting, even if I can't find a lick of Fanfare in it.

This thing is sticky, and I don't like it. I don't appreciate it.

Originally Posted by Kaleb.G

Namely, the problem of people trying to recompose the tracks when they couldn't write a good melody to save their life. They go and totally downplay the original melody, then try to add their own improvisations/phat beets/random riffs, and it sounds like horse dick.

Yeah, I've listened to about ten or so of the tracks randomly chosen from the discs and I see what you mean. Honestly I'm surprised at and a bit disappointed with the sheer volume of electronica in all these pieces. A lot of Uematsu's work is best served in the orchestral medium, I feel. Are there any orchestral arrangements on this album? If not, why?

I am a dolphin, do you want me on your body?

Quote:

Are there any orchestral arrangements on this album?

I counted two (and their quality is iffy). The impression I got from this album is that people were desperately trying to make a minute of source material balloon to five minutes without any concept of how to develop that material. Endlessly repeating melodies and adding techno beats doesn't count.

I was speaking idiomatically.

So far I'd have to say I'm on the same page as most people here, this album is much like all OCRemix stuff, some of it is pure gold, but for the most part, especially with the electronic/trance mixes, the original tunes are buried so far in that you have to try very hard to recognize what it is a remix of (and I'm a fairly big fan of electronic music in general so taste certainly isn't an issue).

My favorite song by a mile at this point is "Midnight at Club Corel (Mining Town)", funny thing is, I could just tell I was going to love it just by looking at the name. It takes one of the simplest, most repetitive tracks on the original soundtrack and tranforms it into a loungy laid back keyboard extravaganza. Of course, my brother didn't like this track at all, so sometimes, taste is everything.

There seems to be 2 kinds of remixes out there, those that really, really change the song (a lot of disc 1 fits into this category), and those that essentially play the same song but with different instruments, and slight tweaks here and there. The latter is definitely my preferred choice, but being a long time listener of OCR, I can't help but think that nothing is really "out of place" on this compilation, as many OCR mixes have a tendancy to fit into category #1 for as long as I can remember.

In the end I'm still very happy with the album, and the fact that musicians from around the world would take time to create this for no profit at all. Should any of them see this, then just let me say thank you very much and keep up the good work.

What kind of toxic man-thing is happening now?

Going into listening this I figured that there were be a good many pieces that simply would be bland/wouldn't work but I figured there may be a few that would be really good. A majority of these pieces take a bit too much liberty with the source material (transforming a slow, moody piece (Heart of Anxiety) into a light, bubbly pop/vocal or the normally subdued "In Search of the Black Caped Man" into uptemp electronica. When I hear an arrangement that does this (this goes for any remix for that matter) it just turns me off. The tracks I did enjoy seemd to do the opposite. By staying true to the tone of the original piece and treating it as more of an extended arrangement they seemd to succeed. A few of these included:

- 104 Materia Junkie. A great arrangement that sounds like somthing The Black Mages would create if they included it on one of their albums. Love the just about perfect guitar parts

- 109 Nomura Limit (Fight On!). A very loose remix of the boss theme, but still very well done and quite enjoyable. Don't like how the original melody is suddenly throw in at the end though.

- 110 Son of Chaos. Another straightforward arrangement. Like the execution, and how it retains the feel of the original while expanding on the melody it a good deal.

- 205 A Life Without Parole. Very simple arrangement but it perfectly suits this song. The piano solo is well-played and sounds really lonely,

Those are just a few, I have not listened to the rest yet.

Most amazing jew boots

Originally Posted by Cellius

Are there any orchestral arrangements on this album? If not, why?

Two straight orchestral arrangements: Valse Aeris on disc 2 and Jenova Returns on disc 4. There are of course some orch elements in other tracks (gotta have those string section stabs in the electronic tracks amirite), but those are the two to go for if you're so inclined.

Originally Posted by ZealPath

There seems to be 2 kinds of remixes out there, those that really, really change the song (a lot of disc 1 fits into this category), and those that essentially play the same song but with different instruments, and slight tweaks here and there. The latter is definitely my preferred choice, but being a long time listener of OCR, I can't help but think that nothing is really "out of place" on this compilation, as many OCR mixes have a tendancy to fit into category #1 for as long as I can remember.

Mainly because category #2 remixes are pretty much not allowed on OCR. Site has a different goal than hosting sound upgrades.

The same does not hold for site projects, which can include songs that wouldn't meet the site standards, but frequently remixers write songs for them that would be able to get onto OCR too. Hell, more than a quarter of the project was posted onto OCR proper as well on the first night, and there are more coming.

What, you don't want my bikini-clad body?

I've listened to most of the second disc by now, and I have to say things are looking up! Maybe the first disc was a misnomer. Short Skirts is one hell of a track. A Life Without Parole is freakin' perfect.

Jam it back in, in the dark.