[Liontamer]

Would need a version at or below 192kbps if this passed - LT

Nutritious
Justin Medford
NutritiousMultimedia@gmail.com
16520

Final Fantasy V
Ahead on Our Way and Four Valiant Hearts

This song was created for the Tribute to Nobuo Uematsu competition at www.squaresound.com. Knowing there would be a lot of entries, I wanted to try a more unique approach with my arrangement. I arrived at the idea of an alto saxophone concerto as I play the saxophone and enjoy writing epic orchestral pieces. The main theme of FFV lends itself well to the big, sweeping style I like to try and emulate in my music. This was created with FL Studio 7, Soundforge, EWQLSO Silver Edition, and live saxophone recording. Thanks for listening.

[Palpable]

Interesting combination, the saxophone + orchestra. I found it a little jarring initially, but I think by the end you had sold the concept. Great build-up into the main theme at 0:36, and a fine sense of grandeur throughout. I didn't hear anything specifically from Four Valiant Hearts though, except the similar theme. Maybe one of the judges can help me here - there's enough usage from Ahead On Our Way in any case.

The saxophone sits a little strangely in the mix - slightly muffled, a little over-reverbed and upfront. Doesn't gel as nicely as I'd like. It's not a big enough problem that I'd need it fixed, but maybe that's something to keep in mind next time. Solid work here, Justin.

YES

[Liontamer]

http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff5 - "Ahead on Our Way" (ff5-1-01.spc) & "Four Valiant Hearts" (ff5-1-03.spc)

From my comments back when I judged this for SquareSound's Nobuo Uematsu tribute competition:

Originally Posted by Liontamer (2/19)

The brass lead felt COMPLETELY wrong for the mood here, but the overall construction was solid. The parts could have been better balanced and separated. This was still very well written, with great energy and dynamics.

I'm still looking forward to when Justin's production matches his arrangement game, because the disparity is still there, and consistently prevents his material from connecting with me all the way.

The production could be stronger; as Palpable said, right now the sax lead doesn't quite site right in the track. The other instruments could also sound a bit more upfront.

At the end of the day though, this gets the nod. The arrangement was definitely handled nicely, and this deserved its high placing in SquareSound's Uematsu compo in a pretty packed field of entries.

YES

[DarkeSword]

Larry, technically speaking, a saxophone is a woodwind instrument, not brass, because it uses a reed on the mouthpiece (that's what she said).

Sax feels out of place initially. Not sure about it, but it's not really detracting from the piece. Great part-writing; I'm glad you didn't ignore brass like a lot of people (i.e. me) tend to do when sequencing an orchestral arrangement. Nice development, I love the triplet feel at 1:28 and then the switch around 2:00 back to an eighth note feel. It's fairly seamless, which is always a plus.

YES

[Another Soundscape]

As the other judges, I'm not to sure about the saxophone but I'm happy to hear you were playing it yourself. It does kind of make me enjoy it more. It could probably sit much better in the mix with different equalizing to fit the rest of the instruments.

Nice orchestral adaption of the source, you really toyed with the harmonies here. Very dramatic, dynamic and with a pleasing instrumentation (except maybe the saxophone ;P).

Solid arrangement and good enough production, thumbs up.

YES