ReMix: Final Fantasy VI 'modeserpent'
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- Game: Final Fantasy VI (Square, 1994, SNES)
- ReMixer(s): Quinn Fox
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'The Serpent Trench'
- Posted: 2003-03-21, evaluated by djpretzel
It's RPG-lovers night here at OCR, with Quinn Fox's last (according to him) ReMix of Final Fantasy 6 being the first of three RPG-mixes for your listening pleasure. Quinn "ReMixing FF games instead of Phantasy Star makes me feel dirty but I do it anyway" Fox (my words, not his) writes of his latest submission: "This is a remix from FF6 (my last) dealing with the lesser known 'Serpents Trench" theme. This is my FIRST remix with the use of guitars, and I aimed for a prog-rock sound. So with it being my first guitar stab, don't get too evil. ^_^" - fortunately, I didn't have to get too evil, or even a little evil, as this is some enjoyable stuff. The prog-rock comment seems on the mark - while it doesn't sound exactly like YES or ELP or Marillion, it does have a nice alternative rhythm going on, some interesting chords, and a general willingness to be subtle. The fret noises from the realguitar(tm) add a nice dimension, and floating, drifting drums with a jazzy ride cymbal create a nice upbeat vibe. There's some lush synth string pads, electric piano, spacey synth fx, and whirly, twisting processing on the guitar that lend the sound a lot of internal motion. What there isn't is a strong, "hummable", dominating melody. This is more of a free-form jam sort of thing, not meant to be narrative as much as evocative. It creates a mellow atmosphere without being too spacy and while remaining musically interesting - you can choose to lose yourself in this, or focus intently on it, with equal appropriateness and enjoyability. That's a nice flexibility for a piece to have, and for an initial effort using guitar in a mix, I thus conclude that it augments + enriches Quinn's sound quite well. Very cool.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the - ChaosPlayer on November 17, 2009
- tweek on October 20, 2009
- Makenshi on January 6, 2006
- Selios on October 3, 2005
- Alianger on July 17, 2005
- Fenrir on October 26, 2004
- Newfie on November 28, 2003
~Quinn
- Quinn X5 on March 29, 2003
Kinda cheaped us on the fade-out, but keep the good songs coming.
- Mustin on March 26, 2003
- OmNiExiZt on March 25, 2003
despite the new addition of the guitar, this is unmistakably quinn - utopian, futuristic... with a similar atmosphere to his previous mix 'mamabrain' - and with surprisingly few similarities to his previous (also excellent) serpent trench mix 'software escape.'
which is part of what makes this song so great - can you think of anyone who would describe the original serpent trench as 'futuristic utopian?' i doubt it. and very few people could manage such an about-face of genre without butchering the song. quinn has. quinn rules all over you. :P
but...unfortunately, he's fallen victim to one of his old problems. the FADE-OUT. now i don't inherently dislike a song simply because it fades out at the end, but like many of his other songs i've had this complaint about, the song fades out while it's still going, rather than just playing an outro loop. sure, it's basically just repeating itself at that point, and 3 minutes is a perfectly respectable length for the track, but the fade-out still irks me every time i listen, and it's the only particularly important thing that stops the song from being 'perfect' to me.
plus there are a few technical issues. the frets, for instance - they don't usually bother me, but if i put the volume up too loud they can become quite piercing. too much high-end, i guess. and the drums, while programmed very well, simply don't match up to everything else. all the other samples fit perfectly, but the percussion has a distinctly keyboardish quality. the rest of the song deserves better. but it really isn't a nagging problem, just something that could be improved.
and, quickly, a bit more individual praisery:
0:00 - short understated electro-soundfuckery intro = 8)
0:23 - [i]HOW DO YOU DO THAT[/i]. adding a perfectly blended chorus to what used to be a dirge... i'm very impressed.
1:45 - very nice section; reminds me of tekken 2. the phasing on the guitar works very perfectly. strange how a 'guitar amateur' such as yourself can be responsible for the only guitar work in a vgmix that i've paid particular interest to, eh :wink:
ah yes. very nice song indeed. not my [i]favourite[/i] quinnsong, but i have over fifty of them, not one of which do i not like, so that's hardly a criticism. :wink:
i'm becoming more and more convinced that quinn's name is a guarantor of quality. i hope i'm not alone.
- Gwilym on March 23, 2003
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