http://web.mac.com/otaconnor/

I have links to my Facebook Fan Page, Myspace Music, and YouTube on the website as well. I'd recommend checking them out or dropping a comment (I'm a sucker for comments...)

Thought I'd drop the link here, as I know many enjoy Final Fantasy music, so I thought I would share my arrangements! :)

Enjoy!

Hey, great site!

and AWESOME remixes!

What programs do you use? I'm still recording manually :P

anyways, great stuff.

Thank you sir! I really appreciate it :)

I use Logic 9, Garageband 9, FL 9, (Lots of 9s eh?) ARIA Player/Garriton Personal Orchestra, Symphonic Choirs, and Vienna Instruments Horns Ensemble.

I'm glad you like it! Spread the word/bump the thread :P. I love doing requests. Any you have, or anyone reading this thread has, throw 'em my way! I need some FF1 and FFX requests, and possibly any from 11 and 12 as well :)

Thank you sir! I really appreciate it :)

I use Logic 9, Garageband 9, FL 9, (Lots of 9s eh?) ARIA Player/Garriton Personal Orchestra, Symphonic Choirs, and Vienna Instruments Horns Ensemble.

I'm glad you like it! Spread the word/bump the thread :P. I love doing requests. Any you have, or anyone reading this thread has, throw 'em my way! I need some FF1 and FFX requests, and possibly any from 11 and 12 as well :)

Wow...that's a lot...think I'll stick to the ol' 8 track cd recorder and my piano and drums :D

Don't REALLY have any requests right now...(mainly cause i have yet to download ff10, 11, and 12's OSTs...or listen to ANYTHING from them for that matter...) :P

Ok, MAYBE I have a request. Could you finish "Cid's Theme" on the ff7 section? Either the link is dead or it isn't there yet, and it's one of my favorites in the game (though I have NO idea how to play the thing on piano :D)

Awesome, I've been seeing you post your stuff for a while now, but now that you made it so easy, I'm going to listen to all of them! Thanks for all of your hard work!!

Nice work.

Very cool, I like what you're working on. I too work on remixes myself specializing in some of the castlevania soundtracks and give some of them a more "Haunting Medievil" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VqlYrlt4o4&feature=PlayList&p=8700EA8F9F26381F&index=0&playnext=1) touch.

Anyways, I don't have any requests myself currently, just wanted to leave a friendly comment.




I use Logic 9, Garageband 9, FL 9, (Lots of 9s eh?) ARIA Player/Garriton Personal Orchestra, Symphonic Choirs, and Vienna Instruments Horns Ensemble.


That's a good set of equipment you got. I use Cubase SX3, with all the Natives Instruments products from Komplete 2-4 as well as Dynamo, Massive, Reason 4 and Arturia Storm 3. I use the Axiom 49 midi to run it all in Windows XP Pro. What do you have as far as a midi keyboard?

Wow...that's a lot...think I'll stick to the ol' 8 track cd recorder and my piano and drums :D

Don't REALLY have any requests right now...(mainly cause i have yet to download ff10, 11, and 12's OSTs...or listen to ANYTHING from them for that matter...) :P

Ok, MAYBE I have a request. Could you finish "Cid's Theme" on the ff7 section? Either the link is dead or it isn't there yet, and it's one of my favorites in the game (though I have NO idea how to play the thing on piano :D)

Hm, I'll check out the link! My Mac is actually in the shop right now til Saturday (Upgrading Internal Hard Drive to 500Gb :] ) and the Cid's theme I had up before was a Brass Quarter written with a demo horns section I had for a little. Now that I have the Vienna Horns (Horns used in Dancing Mad) I think I'll throw it back together with even better horns! If any links are broken and I'll fix it asap!

By the way-
C--G-F-G--G-A-Asharp--G-D--
First little part of Cid's theme for ya ;P

Very cool, I like what you're working on. I too work on remixes myself specializing in some of the castlevania soundtracks and give some of them a more "Haunting Medievil" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VqlYrlt4o4&feature=PlayList&p=8700EA8F9F26381F&index=0&playnext=1) touch.

Anyways, I don't have any requests myself currently, just wanted to leave a friendly comment.



That's a good set of equipment you got. I use Cubase SX3, with all the Natives Instruments products from Komplete 2-4 as well as Dynamo, Massive, Reason 4 and Arturia Storm 3. I use the Axiom 49 midi to run it all in Windows XP Pro. What do you have as far as a midi keyboard?


Thanks for the feedback! I'd kill for some of the Kompakt instruments about now, but I gotta save up some more, first. I have a Yamaha Portable Grand DGX-205, a KORG 2 octave midi keyboard, a KORG control panel, and 2 equalizers, which give control between 12 speakers and 3 subs in my room. Seems excessive, I know, but it's more fun than anything to play with it. As an example, when playing organ, it's a blast to turn on the speakers set to create reverb in my room, and it gives a much greater feel.

Hm, I'll check out the link! My Mac is actually in the shop right now til Saturday (Upgrading Internal Hard Drive to 500Gb :] ) and the Cid's theme I had up before was a Brass Quarter written with a demo horns section I had for a little. Now that I have the Vienna Horns (Horns used in Dancing Mad) I think I'll throw it back together with even better horns! If any links are broken and I'll fix it asap!

By the way-
C--G-F-G--G-A-Asharp--G-D--
First little part of Cid's theme for ya ;P

Thanks! I'll be sure to check it! and maybe I can finally get it down! :D

Next songs I plan to be putting up are FF4 Boss Battle, and 2nd version of the FF2 Last Boss song. :)

I put up the new version of Cid's theme on my website :)
Also put up a work in progress of Zeromus!
Enjoy!

I listened to them all and, yeah man, good job. However, just finishing listening to the final battle from FF9 I gotta say, way too loud, especially in comparison to your other tracks. And a few could use more reverb on the drums in my opinion, they sometimes sound too dry and stick out from the rest of the soundscape. And that's about all the criticism I have. :)

As for requests, even though you've got more FF8 than anything, I love "The Oath" but the synth on the OST kinda sucks, so that'd be great to hear you redo. And since you seem to have a particular affinity for action themes, my suggestions for you to consider for FFXII would be "The Beginning of the End" (Disc 4, track 12), "Sky Fortress Bahamut" (4-14) and I wonder if "Desperate Fight" (3-5) would give you any interesting ideas. And check out "Secret of Nethicite" (2-18) for something similar but more mysterious. Any of those can count as my request. :D

I put up the new version of Cid's theme on my website :)
Also put up a work in progress of Zeromus!
Enjoy!

The melody was right, but it was missing SO much.

CID'S THEME HAS A HEAVY MILITARY-LIKE DRUM LINE - IT ADDS TO IT SO MUCH!

The remix was guitar chords and a trumpet, and nothing else. I can see it as a different style, but the original sounded better.

You've done good work on other stuff, though, and you're still a good Remixer. This one was just a flop.

Also, the link was missing on your page - had to dig through the code with DownThemAll to get it.

good stuff oto connor

The melody was right, but it was missing SO much.

CID'S THEME HAS A HEAVY MILITARY-LIKE DRUM LINE - IT ADDS TO IT SO MUCH!

The remix was guitar chords and a trumpet, and nothing else. I can see it as a different style, but the original sounded better.

You've done good work on other stuff, though, and you're still a good Remixer. This one was just a flop.

Also, the link was missing on your page - had to dig through the code with DownThemAll to get it.


Yeah, there is no way in hell I am done with it lol. That's just the intro. Figured I would throw it up. I'm giving it a soft intro, which fades into "Sending a dream into outer space," and it will eventually climax into a large heroic military like feel of Cid's Theme. ;)

Yeah, there is no way in hell I am done with it lol. That's just the intro. Figured I would throw it up. I'm giving it a soft intro, which fades into "Sending a dream into outer space," and it will eventually climax into a large heroic military like feel of Cid's Theme. ;)

Ok, sounds promising. Can't wait to hear!

I've recently upgraded about all of my instruments to the Vienna instruments. Every instrument is sampled... all together it's about 50 gigs of 50,000+ samples :) Just to show off how much better they sound (as they are REAL instruments) I threw them over my old Judgement Day variation.
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=T29CAMSN
It's nothin' TOO special, but it still shows off some awesome potential future songs have :)

@Nothingtosay,
That's funny, those are the 2 FF12 songs I've been planning to do! And yeah believe me I know the drums are a bit too stale in Grand Cross haha. That was the 2nd or 3rd song I ever did ;P I use different drum kits for the most part these days.

Next songs to be expecting: Zeromus, Cid's Theme, and an FF12 song

Ok, sounds promising. Can't wait to hear!

Here you go man :)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=24A598WO

I haven't put it on the website yet, as I'm trying to finish Zeromus and Desperate Fight first, then I'm going to put all 3 up together. But I hope you like it! You guys give me inspiration to keep goin' at it :D

Ah so you are doing "Desperate Fight". I thought that'd be the hardest one to do something with if you're not planning on keeping the same instrumentation. Which was the other from 12 you were going to do?

I'm a huge FF12 fan and that would be most interesting to me to hear you arrange from a technical kind of standpoint, but I was just listening to some stuff from 8 earlier today, one of which was "The Oath", and hearing again just how lacking the synth is on it, I'd really appreciate that one for my purely listening pleasure the most.

I'll look some more into the Oath for you man :) Desperate Fight is really hard to work with, as well are other FF12 songs. Hitoshi Sakimoto writes his music in such a unique fashion, it's hard to describe/understand haha. The Beginning of the End is the next FF12 song for me to do... it's a little easier. It gives a great ambience of power though.

And I'm a big 12 fan too man. When the game first came out, I played through all the way to the Sochen Cave Palace, and stopped. I'm playing through it again now, and am back to that point in the game. I utterly love this game. Balthier is somewhat of an idol ;)

I got just beyond the Sochen Cave Palace into Archades and then stopped. I didn't get bored or anything, I just run out of steam on most long games. I'm not anywhere near the hardcore gamer I was when I was a kid and could routinely destroy Contra and stuff. Me and my friend tried playing that game again awhile ago and it promptly destroyed us. :D

You don't have to tell me how crazy Sakimoto is, I'm a huge fan. He has a unique approach to melody, harmony, and rhythm that's really all his own. Most people are lucky if they even develop a unique approach to any one of those and he's done all three. Are you thinking of doing any FF Tactics arrangements?

Here you go man :)
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=24A598WO

I haven't put it on the website yet, as I'm trying to finish Zeromus and Desperate Fight first, then I'm going to put all 3 up together. But I hope you like it! You guys give me inspiration to keep goin' at it :D

WOW. What an improvement! This song PWNS! Great job Connor! However, the beginning part didn't seen that nesscesary - and the other 2 parts were far superior (they had a drumline and more instruments). The ending was epic.

great job overall. The new instruments really show what you can do.

tom

@Nothingtosay: I'd love to do some tactics arrangements. I don't know the music from Tactics as well as I used to, so if you would recommend anything that'd be great!

@recorderdude: Thanks man! I'm really glad you liked it! I decided to keep the first part just because some other people I know liked it, so I figured I'd just leave it ;P
The Cornet (The brass lead in the 2nd part) is easily one of my new favorite instruments, both to write with, and listen to. They're kind of like a smaller trumpet... but hardly. It's like a viola/violin, they look VERY similar, and almost sound the same, but you need a good ear to pick up where they differ.

@Everyone: I'm hoping to do some FFX and FFXI if anyone has any songs from them they'd like to recommend/request.

I'm also going to start doing some music from the RARE games :)

And I have to thank you Recorderdude, your desciption of the "Military feel" of Cid's theme really helped get some gears goin' in my head. Ex, writing in 2/4 and what not

@Nothingtosay: I'd love to do some tactics arrangements. I don't know the music from Tactics as well as I used to, so if you would recommend anything that'd be great!

"Thunder God Cid"! It's a good melody and cool militaristic sound, but it's short. It'd be cool if you could expand on it. Listen to "Brave Story" as well, it's the same melody but a different arrangement. There's a third variation that was left off the album. I uploaded it in case it'd give you an idea. http://www.mediafire.com/?dnlzymlwxtd

I could recommend other stuff, but my suggestion to you is that you should listen to the whole soundtrack again!

I'm making too many requests. :laugh:

If you don't already have all the Final Fantasy sheet music, there's this thread: Thread 40139
Even got Tactics in there.

And I have to thank you Recorderdude, your desciption of the "Military feel" of Cid's theme really helped get some gears goin' in my head. Ex, writing in 2/4 and what not

Hey, no prob!

And it's a GREAT idea to expand the music you'll do. Your final fantasy remixes do PWN, but there 500 other people doing remixes of the same songs that are just as good. Dive into new territory! You never know what you'll find!

@Nothingtosay- awesome! I'll download it now! Just because I mix songs it doesn't mean that I can't find mixes by other people myself and go "HOW DID THEY DO THAT!?" and jam out to them. Audio Fidelity from OCremix, and Jeremy Robson are 2 of my biggest influences. Jeremy Robson did a 4 part FF7 Philharmonic suite, and either part 2 or 3 was a circa 10 minute orchestration of Cid's theme. He was not afraid to add some new things to it, and he did not fail. It's a true masterpiece. I aspire to his talent.

@Nothingtosay- I think you've really given me a good push to an idea I've been working on. I call my idea the "Why would you orchestrate that?" Project. It consists of video game music that you would almost never think to orchestrate or arrange, but when it's done, you realize the potential behind the original song, and that it works great!

Example, the Kaptain K Rool final boss song from Donkey Kong Country 2. OCremix has done a mix of this a while back as part of an album, but other than that, I've yet to really see many others around. And part of the fun for me and for the song, is keeping parts of it close to the original, but REALLY bringing out the sound with the Vienna Instruments, to give the listener a feel of "Whoa... K. Rool is a badass and that game was awesome."

Here is the WIP so far. Mind the abrupt ending and other flaws... It IS a wip ;P
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J0U6MO8D

And for any pianists out there, grab the midi of this song (sheet music is obviously non existent haha) and play the strings section sometime. The chords are so fun to play on piano.

@Nothingtosay- awesome! I'll download it now! Just because I mix songs it doesn't mean that I can't find mixes by other people myself and go "HOW DID THEY DO THAT!?" and jam out to them. Audio Fidelity from OCremix, and Jeremy Robson are 2 of my biggest influences. Jeremy Robson did a 4 part FF7 Philharmonic suite, and either part 2 or 3 was a circa 10 minute orchestration of Cid's theme. He was not afraid to add some new things to it, and he did not fail. It's a true masterpiece. I aspire to his talent.

@Nothingtosay- I think you've really given me a good push to an idea I've been working on. I call my idea the "Why would you orchestrate that?" Project. It consists of video game music that you would almost never think to orchestrate or arrange, but when it's done, you realize the potential behind the original song, and that it works great!

Example, the Kaptain K Rool final boss song from Donkey Kong Country 2. OCremix has done a mix of this a while back as part of an album, but other than that, I've yet to really see many others around. And part of the fun for me and for the song, is keeping parts of it close to the original, but REALLY bringing out the sound with the Vienna Instruments, to give the listener a feel of "Whoa... K. Rool is a badass and that game was awesome."

Here is the WIP so far. Mind the abrupt ending and other flaws... It IS a wip ;P
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=J0U6MO8D

And for any pianists out there, grab the midi of this song (sheet music is obviously non existent haha) and play the strings section sometime. The chords are so fun to play on piano.

DK country 2? Now you're talkin my childhood.

has anyone else ever thought that jib-jig could be orchestrated into a tune to be used in some pirate movie?

oh, also, the sheets exist :)

they're on this site: http://www.vgsheets.com/

hmm...seems to be down now, but worked before...

There are multiple sheets for the DKC games in notepad format.

NOT MS notepad, finale notepad.

You can download the program to read em for free from finale's site.

Song sounds great so far, and I know it's a wip, but i've got a suggestion - the strings sound great but the song needs a stronger bassline. And you might wanna replace some of the weaker instruments (flutes, etc) with stronger ones (with the exception of the part with all weak instruments). Otherwise, sounds great!

I plan to do some stuff from DKC2 as well, david wise is a genius.

Yeah I'm trying to equalize the bass right now. I don't know if it was in that WIP I linked, but I've got a double bass slappin' like crazy. Doesn't give as much bass but as a big THWACK! It's fairly vital to the bassline of the song overall, but I have to give the drums bass around it, as when they both have bass cranked up, its a bit much.

The woodwinds I've got fixed mostly. In that WIP they didn't have the echo that they normally do, which believe me, definently adds a whole new feeling to when they play.

DKC2 was my childhood too, man. Haha, still one of the most difficult games I've played as well.

David Wise IS an absolute genius. I want to play with Grant Kirkhope's music as well. Grant Kirkhope is like the Danny Elfman of video games.

Yeah I'm trying to equalize the bass right now. I don't know if it was in that WIP I linked, but I've got a double bass slappin' like crazy. Doesn't give as much bass but as a big THWACK! It's fairly vital to the bassline of the song overall, but I have to give the drums bass around it, as when they both have bass cranked up, its a bit much.

The woodwinds I've got fixed mostly. In that WIP they didn't have the echo that they normally do, which believe me, definently adds a whole new feeling to when they play.

DKC2 was my childhood too, man. Haha, still one of the most difficult games I've played as well.

David Wise IS an absolute genius. I want to play with Grant Kirkhope's music as well. Grant Kirkhope is like the Danny Elfman of video games.

Tru dat :) Great to see it's coming along well.

EDIT: also, hey! I found a working site with game sheets. not as good as the old one but works!

http://www.gamemusicthemes.com/index.html

Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Battle
Donkey Kong Country 2- Boss Battle, K. Rool, Bramble Scramble
Metal Gear Solid- Enclosure
Metal Gear Solid 2 - Yell Dead Cell

These are some that are coming along for the new section :)

Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Battle
Donkey Kong Country 2- Boss Battle, K. Rool, Bramble Scramble
Metal Gear Solid- Enclosure
Metal Gear Solid 2 - Yell Dead Cell

These are some that are coming along for the new section :)

Hey! Looks great! Lotsa epic songs in that list!

Also, I recommend that you at least play the "kannon's klaim"/"mining melancholy" song at least once. The rhythm section PWNs and it is tied with "rattle battle" as my favorite track in the game. By the way, be sure to try that one too. It's so fun to play :)

OH, also! I FINALLY found the actual sheets site I was talking about. I believe it's the largest on the web.

http://www.ninsheetm.us/index.php

Thanks for the link! I'll be abusing it :)

Here's how I plan to arrange those songs I listed:

Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Battle: Already finished. Has reverb giving the feel of listening to a chamber orchestra play it during a live performance. It doesn't take away from any of the song at all, but it adds a really nice effect. It's something new I haven't done yet.

Donkey Kong Country 2- Boss Battle, and K. Rool, are orchestral covers. (With appropriate synth or guitars where needed) and Bramble Scramble will feature lyrics sung by my wonderful sister :) Seeing as Bramble Scramble had been done so much, I thought I would do something new with it. Being lyrics!

Metal Gear Solid- Enclosure: Going for a real heartfelt approach

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Yell Dead Cell: Get your glowsticks.

Really nice site and congrates. Would you mind if aired some of your work on the radio ?

Thanks for the link! I'll be abusing it :)

Here's how I plan to arrange those songs I listed:

Super Mario 64- Final Bowser Battle: Already finished. Has reverb giving the feel of listening to a chamber orchestra play it during a live performance. It doesn't take away from any of the song at all, but it adds a really nice effect. It's something new I haven't done yet.

Donkey Kong Country 2- Boss Battle, and K. Rool, are orchestral covers. (With appropriate synth or guitars where needed) and Bramble Scramble will feature lyrics sung by my wonderful sister :) Seeing as Bramble Scramble had been done so much, I thought I would do something new with it. Being lyrics!

Metal Gear Solid- Enclosure: Going for a real heartfelt approach

Metal Gear Solid 2 - Yell Dead Cell: Get your glowsticks.

Whoa, whoa, whoa.

LYRICS?!

Welcome to the brentalfloss club, man!

I've already done one http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/518254
and I've got two in the works! Can't wait to see what ya come up with!

Actually, I'm recording one of MY with lyrics today, on Wario's Woods NES (though its not about the game itself but the NES and a kid who never grew up, or more accurately, never gave up what he loved)

ok, then, post when she's up!

Thomas Hart Jr./Recorderdude

Really nice site and congrates. Would you mind if aired some of your work on the radio ?

I wouldn't mind at all, I'd be honored in fact! What radio/station?

Awesome! Do you think you can change the apple format ones to MP3?

Just checking in to see what's up and how things are coming along for you?


Awesome! Do you think you can change the apple format ones to MP3?

Those are actually AIFF format, which is basically the same thing as a WAV file. He'll probably convert them for you 'cause he seems a generally helpful and willing dude, but if your music player isn't compatible with the format, I'd humbly submit you check out www.vuplayer.com because it starts out with the ability to play that, and then will play just about everything if you download the few supplemental things in the filter section. It's purposely unflashy, light on the CPU, can handle basically whatever you throw at it, and is simple and streamlined. Don't remember where I saw someone's recommendation for it that made me pick it up, but I'm happy I did, so I thought I'd pass it on.

Oh yeah, I have to convert the few AIFFs that are up there to MP3 still, I need to get a list of which ones I still need to convert! Thanks for reminding me :)

I've got the new section up on my website now with songs from other games too (FF still has its own section, seeing as how it has mass quantities of songs from its series alone haha) So any requests from any game ever, throw 'em my way!

Working on some MGS2 and Paper Mario right now :)