OCR00990 - Final Fantasy VI 'Rachel's Gift'

[djpretzel]

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

[GrayLightning]

I heard this on the WIP a while ago, and I believe as I do now that this is one really good mix. Very lovely work and sounds. ^_^

[Noon]

I also enjoyed this one in the WIP forum. I like how the beginning of the song does a great job of setting the mood for the entire song. I'd have to say my favorite part comes around 2:29 when Celes's theme kicks in. I think that is the most beautiful part of the whole song. This is a throughly excellent concoction of musical goodness. Thank you Maestrodeclure for sharing your skills, seriously.

[NightWish]

For what it does in being slow and having mellow sounds, it does its job greatly. In fact, I thought this particular OCRemix sounded a LOT like a FF7 instrumental piece.. And it truly sounds like something that could be in a soundtrack of an actual game!

Besides that though, I think it moves a bit too slowly for my tastes... But if anybody's looking for atmospheric music, it's not so bad. Those wanting fast paced sounds and something risque and innovative could be disappointed, but this remix is not for those tastes.

For what it does, it's a pretty good remix!

[herograw]

ahh, so soothing... man, i always really loved this song from the original.

michael huang? wouldn't he be the http://www.nobuouematsu.com guy? i think so.

-rob

[playingtokrush]

michael huang? wouldn't he be the http://www.nobuouematsu.com guy? i think so.

Yes, yes he would. Everyone should check out Michael Huang's Fantasy Reborn works. Some of them are wonderful.

[Fieari]

At 1:25ish, there's one instrument in the background that I winced to hear. It's very quiet fortunatly, but it was the only thing in this peice I didn't like.

The intro thrilled me, I'm not sure it could have been done much better than that. The ending was just as good, and transitioned well. I'm not sure what djpretzel's problem with the transitions was... I loved those, personally. This is great work! Around 2:40 when the Aria de Mezzo Carate comes in, that's brilliant stuff... and the arpeggios in the background work so well with everything!

Wonderful stuff. Good work!

[Dhsu]

I've always felt a little iffy about this remix...in a few places it's a direct MIDI rip of Huang's arrangement, with some instrument changes (you can tell harps were never meant to go that low). However, the transition to the Aria and the occasional original arranging work is enough to justify this remix's presence on OCR. Congratulations, maestro, on your first OC remix.

[Israfel]

Good stuff-

Particularly loved the opening section, those long moments of silence were a great touch- it just had a delicate sort of sound. Very nice.

[Dark Heart]

Hm...an orchestral mix on the Racheal Theme from FF3/6. My first thought was SAD. Sad as in its well...*sniff* its pretty sad how I remember the game. Anywhos this song is anything from sad. Its wonderful god man....gotta dl it ASAP or else...um...ur face will go like this! :lol: seriously though...oh well its not one of them remixes like megaman 3 needles or anything that made me fo 8O but I went :( and :) at the same time. Sounds good around 2:30...o_O

[Russell Cox]

I've always felt a little iffy about this remix...in a few places it's a direct MIDI rip of Huang's arrangement, with some instrument changes (you can tell harps were never meant to go that low). However, the transition to the Aria and the occasional original arranging work is enough to justify this remix's presence on OCR. Congratulations, maestro, on your first OC remix.

Sorry, but the harp *can* go that low. The piano is the only other instrument that has a greater range than the harp, being able to go a minor third lower and an imperfect fifth higher than the harp. The only reason most people don't use those extreme ranges are because of the sustaining power below the bass clef and the harp's highest tone sound too sharp and metallic.

maestro knows my thoughts on this mix from the WIP and they haven't changed. Overall, it's a solid mix, though I'm not too happy with some phrasing choices. Nice one.

[Andrew]

Great job with the remix! This is a splendid arrangement, and I can definitely see the resemblance to Michael's version in the end. From the looks of it, very few of you have even heard Michael Huang's work! His Fantasy Reborn pieces are very well-done in my opinion. I usually notate his sheet music for him from MP3. Just for reference, here is his arrangement of Forever Rachel in Finale 2002 MUS format: http://mhuang.netfirms.com/ff6rachel.html. The web site of his project is http://www.fantasyreborn.com/. I encourage all of you to look through them! Great work, Maestrodeclure, on making a very dandy orchestral medley of this song and Aria di Mezzo Carattere. As Dhsu said, though, this work is only OCR-worthy because of the Aria mixed in there. :)

[Dhsu]

Gah! Ix-nay on my real ame-nay! o_o;;

Sorry, but the harp *can* go that low. The piano is the only other instrument that has a greater range than the harp, being able to go a minor third lower and an imperfect fifth higher than the harp. The only reason most people don't use those extreme ranges are because of the sustaining power below the bass clef and the harp's highest tone sound too sharp and metallic.
Hey, I won't argue with you there. ^_^;; However, what I meant was that while those notes may be physically possible to play on a harp, they don't work too well in this context. It just seems unnatural and unnecessary to go that low. I was also using it as evidence to show that part was a MIDI rip...it might've sounded good in Michael's piano arrangement, but it becomes awkward when directly converted to harp.

[Andrew]

Nix on your real name? What on earth could you possibly mean? ;)

Anyway, I do agree that the harp should be raised an octave or two to add a fuller and more realistic arpeggio affect. It does not sound natural.

[Thorgal]

just to fast for me but its maybe me.

[Ax]

Not bad, but not great. Some of the bell runs toward the end seemed... Not out of place, but they sounded forced, like something better could have been put there. The harp was only fair, it needed to be higher. I liked the reverberating bells in the background, the loud ringing (which, the sound was about the right level) gave it more of an orchestrial taste, something that makes it sound like it is straight out of a symphony hall. Overall, it's okay, there's some parts I can't stand.

[Ryan8bit]

Parts of this just felt a bit too empty. It could've benefitted from some cymbal crashes in some of the more grand parts around 3:30. Something to lift the emotion. But otherwise it was ok, and that was a very interesting intro/outro.

[Rapyer2986]

I enjoyed this very much and it was like "wow, nice first entry!" *nods head* A slow theatrical ending to what could have been another FF movie. I like how around 2:39 Aria de Mezzo Carate flows in and then exits smoothly back into Rachael's theme. A beautiful moving piece. Nice work!

[Ronyn]

Thanks everyone for the comments, very much appreciated. A couple points have been made that I might as well shed some light on, but since I'm too lazy to address them specifically I'll just copy and paste from the WIP thread.


I liked it up until the point you changed it over to Aria de Mezzo...

Dually noted. My friend didn't like it either, but I did it for symbolism. If you know the story, you know that Rachel gives her life for Locke's happiness, thus...her gift was in effect, Celes, hence her theme.

Is that supposed to be a synth in the beginning, or just a rather bad sample of a waterbowl?

Actually it's just the original harp and music box with a heavy wah wah flange and a few other effects on them. Why would I do that? Well the piece is not technically orchestral like that, it's just the style. It's still a remix intrinsically, so I thought a "dreamy" entrance would be appropriate. Quite relevant with the story of rachel.

Unless I'm mistaken, that's a choir in the background, and it seems to come out of nowhere with no intentions and purposes.
(around 1:20)

The choir you hear is actually the original "mezzo de aria" soundfont from the game itself. I thought a little forshadowing sounded good there.

So there's the method to the madness on some of the more questionable parts of this mix. As far as the other stuff goes i.e. the low harp, I totally agree ;). Dhsu pretty much hit the nail on the head considering my personal concerns. But yeah overall it did turn out ok I guess, thanks everyone who helped, and thanks for the welcome. I'm tempted to go back and fix the stuff I agree should be fixed, but at this point I think I'll call it par for the course and move on. Thanks everyone!

[Kamikaze Noodle]

Wow. I don't know about if this was a MIDI rip or any of that, but I loved what I heard. You can feel the emotion flowing out of this song. And that says a lot to me. Very very good stuf happening in this song. Keep making good music maestodeclure! please...

[Silent_B0b]

All in all a very good end product. I am still impressed by the way this turned out James, good job. You had never really explained your Celes connection to me, that makes a lot of sense. Anyway, great job.

[Shhteve]

All in all a very good end product. I am still impressed by the way this turned out James, good job. You had never really explained your Celes connection to me, that makes a lot of sense. Anyway, great job.


SPOILER ALERT!!!!

You know.. I was thinking. Maybe with the death of Rachel, Celes was the "gift" or so to speak, to Locke. Although it was a very sad event, I suddenly now believe that Rachel, in a sense, lives on in the heart of Celes.. Because she loves Locke, you know?

Just something to think about.. :wink:

[Ghostlion]

FFVI,a famous game on SFC.I like it very much.
This remix sound nice.
err..Could you please tell me what is "WIP"which was mentioned by GrayLightning?

Thanks!!

[GrayLightning]

FFVI,a famous game on SFC.I like it very much.
This remix sound nice.
err..Could you please tell me what is "WIP"which was mentioned by GrayLightning?

Thanks!!

It is the Work in Progress forum here on OC.

[thediabeticknight]

YAY!!!! :D Someone remixed Forever Rachel!!!!! I've been waiting forever for something like this. And I can greatfully say I was not let down! Very very beautiful the whole way through and the harp is great. I hope to hear more remixes from you! This is one of my personal favorites! 8)

I hope many other people remix this song! It is definately worthy to be remixed again!

-The Diabetic Knight

[Eccles]

I really like this for the most part.

The beginning wasnt pulled off very well in my opinion. If the strings/pads had been playing on their own without the kinda 'wah' thing they had at the beginning of each note then it would have worked better.
I would also have preferred them to link to something instead of being simply a prelude for the orchestral.

The bit that really made me sit up and go "wow" was when Celes theme kicked in...in my opinion thats always been the better of the two themes used, but thats hardly a poitn of criticism of the piece.
Im glad you decided to use Celes theme in there and Im glad you pulled it off so well.

The bit with the tubular bells playing along, that made me smile, even though it wasnt a huge amount...I like how it kept in touch with the style of the OST (or is it Grand finale...whatever, one of those)

The ending is a little disappointing though...the orchestra suddenly stopping dead leaving the piano to cover it, didnt really go...not for me anyways.
but this is only something like 5-10 seconds, hardly enough to ruin the entire track.

Overall, I love it...its brilliant ^_^
Recommended for anyone who's after a moody orchestral piece.

[Angelus Laminarum]

Excellent work, Maestrodeclure.

The beginning, though shaky, is comfortably reminiscent (sp.?) of waterdrops falling on the lake surface.

Keep it up!

[Vega Boralis]

I've been listening to/downloading all the FF6 remixes. They have all been reminding me of FF6's greatness, but none so much as this. Just hearing this, I can think of Rachel and Locke, and that series of events between them. That's powerful, and this remix was able to bring back all those emotions as well. A great mix, and I'd have to say it's better than "Forever Rachel." Not that that's a bad remix, this one just captures the essense of Rachel and Locke much better. Great job, Maestrodeclure; I'm much impressed. This being your first submission, I can't wait to hear more from you.

[Blackthorne]

I love this remix. This is my personal favorite ff6 song, so I am usually really harsh about remixes of it, but this was really well done. I wasn't a major fan of the long pauses at the beginning,(note: that section was the only part of Huang's arrangement I disliked) but an easy 9/10.

[Bummerdude]

In the game, this was one of my favorites. Not only
that it sounded good, but it sounded so sad that I just wanted to sit there and listen to it after loop and loop. Anyhow, great that you kept the same emotional feeling in the song, and then had some of "Celes" theme as well. This is so good that I want to cry. :cry:

[RoseBrass]

This is absolutely beautiful! I love how the song tells a story... a lot of reMixes fail to do this, plainly copying the original and changing the tempos and instruments, etc., and I personally find those boring and unoriginal. This reMix takes two of my favorite themes and adds passion and story to them, not to mention interest. This is definitely worth a download, and I recommend it to anyone!

[Jay-Zig]

"Forever Rachel" is one of my favorite tracks from Final Fantasy III/VI so I was overjoyed to find an orchestral interpretation of it and this fit the bill. While I can be very particular, I also liked the inclusion of "Celes's Theme".

However, unfourtantly whether it was intentional or not, you missed the accidental in Celes's Theme (aka. Aria Di Mezzo...). I believe the wrong note occurs at like 2:33 in the song. It seems that a lot of remixers miss this as well when they cover Celes's theme and I too realized I was missing the accidental as well for a long period of time when I used to play this on the piano.

So yes, it's only one note, but that one accidental magnifies the drama of the Celes/Opera piece so much. Listen for it next time and then listen to a version that misses the note and you'll know what I'm talking about.

Well now that that's out of my system, this is still a great piece and the brooding, yet hopeful mood of "Forever Rachel" was perfectly snared. At least an 8 out of 10 for me when "scoring" this piece.

[Soapy]

A good remix, it has its own emotion, I enjoyed it.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

[Liontamer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.
For that time, that level of coverage was fine due to the personalization involved in James's instrumentation and new writing added during those sections. They also didn't take up the majority of the track, the majority being James's own arrangement ideas.

I agree that nowadays, something like this probably wouldn't pass, due to borrowing too much from an existing arrangement. But it's not as if James wasn't upfront about the mix also being inspired by the Michael Huang/"Fantasy Reborn" arrangement of Forever Rachel! in the first place.

[Ronyn]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

Taucer's criticism is fair. However, the only parts that are "note-for-note" are the intro (source), outtro (source), and some of the structure and underscoring of the main theme. If you listen closer though there is a lot of added harmony; at that time I didn't want to touch the melody.

In all fairness, I've considered how lucky I was to get this passed then. I'm sure it wouldn't get passed now, and I'm not clueless as to why, don't worry.

If it stays on the site, score. If it gets dropped for QA, that's cool too. I would love to remake something more my own with my new equipment. Technologically, I couldn't do it then (AWE32, need I say more). I owe this mix getting posted to Vegas and a good engineering class, not to my equipment. Que sera sera.

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

Taucer's criticism is fair. However, the only parts that are "note-for-note" are the intro (source), outtro (source), and some of the structure and underscoring of the main theme. If you listen closer though there is a lot of added harmony; at that time I didn't want to touch the melody.

In all fairness, I've considered how lucky I was to get this passed then. I'm sure it wouldn't get passed now, and I'm not clueless as to why, don't worry.

If it stays on the site, score. If it gets dropped for QA, that's cool too. I would love to remake something more my own with my new equipment. Technologically, I couldn't do it then (AWE32, need I say more). I owe this mix getting posted to Vegas and a good engineering class, not to my equipment. Que sera sera.

It's definitely well-executed. I would love to hear more of your stuff.

[Liontamer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

Taucer's criticism is fair. However, the only parts that are "note-for-note" are the intro (source), outtro (source), and some of the structure and underscoring of the main theme. If you listen closer though there is a lot of added harmony; at that time I didn't want to touch the melody.

In all fairness, I've considered how lucky I was to get this passed then. I'm sure it wouldn't get passed now, and I'm not clueless as to why, don't worry.

If it stays on the site, score. If it gets dropped for QA, that's cool too. I would love to remake something more my own with my new equipment. Technologically, I couldn't do it then (AWE32, need I say more). I owe this mix getting posted to Vegas and a good engineering class, not to my equipment. Que sera sera.

It's definitely well-executed. I would love to hear more of your stuff.
What a coincidence...

[Geoffrey Taucer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

Taucer's criticism is fair. However, the only parts that are "note-for-note" are the intro (source), outtro (source), and some of the structure and underscoring of the main theme. If you listen closer though there is a lot of added harmony; at that time I didn't want to touch the melody.

In all fairness, I've considered how lucky I was to get this passed then. I'm sure it wouldn't get passed now, and I'm not clueless as to why, don't worry.

If it stays on the site, score. If it gets dropped for QA, that's cool too. I would love to remake something more my own with my new equipment. Technologically, I couldn't do it then (AWE32, need I say more). I owe this mix getting posted to Vegas and a good engineering class, not to my equipment. Que sera sera.

It's definitely well-executed. I would love to hear more of your stuff.
What a coincidence...
Is this going where I think it is? I hope so.

[Liontamer]

Got some nice intro stuff, but starting around 1:22, it turns into a note-for-note cover of the Fantasy Reborn (http://www.axiverse.com/ffreborn/ff6__forever_rachel_reborn.mp3) arrangement of the same song until Celes' theme comes in. Then, at 3:28, it goes back to being a note-for-note cover of the fantasy reborn version.

Taucer's criticism is fair. However, the only parts that are "note-for-note" are the intro (source), outtro (source), and some of the structure and underscoring of the main theme. If you listen closer though there is a lot of added harmony; at that time I didn't want to touch the melody.

In all fairness, I've considered how lucky I was to get this passed then. I'm sure it wouldn't get passed now, and I'm not clueless as to why, don't worry.

If it stays on the site, score. If it gets dropped for QA, that's cool too. I would love to remake something more my own with my new equipment. Technologically, I couldn't do it then (AWE32, need I say more). I owe this mix getting posted to Vegas and a good engineering class, not to my equipment. Que sera sera.

It's definitely well-executed. I would love to hear more of your stuff.
What a coincidence...
Is this going where I think it is? I hope so.
To Alaska? I think not. You got some strange hopes, Jeremy

[ChloroPhil]

This song is so beautiful. I remember once upon sometime last year I was listening to this song at school while doing an assignment in the computer lab, and when the part at 2:28 came in, I just stopped and started staring into space with my mouth slightly open.

Beautiful.

[HoboKa]

I shed a few tears in oh such a nerdy way. This song hit's the spot :D

[Miletus]

I love the intro on this. Music's all about the silence.

[42]

I love the intro on this. Music's all about the silence.

The intro is awesome. As with anything, but especially art, what is there is just as important as what isn't there.

This has a nice mellow melancholy reflective medieval flow to it, like someone watching the stars from a castle parapet.

'Tis an interesting and wonderful listen.

[OA]

James definitely rocks harder nowadays than this track, but it's a really nice piece that blends the themes together really nicely. Very relaxing, and a nice attention to dynamics and articulations.

[ZArsenalZ]

One of my best friends is a girl named Rachel
This song reminds me of her
And she is one of the most amazing people anyone could hope to ever meet
So thank you