ReMix: Final Fantasy VII 'Hydrophone Breakdown'
Download MP3
Play Preview
- Game: Final Fantasy VII (Sony, 1997, PS1)
- ReMixer(s): JJT
- Composer(s): Nobuo Uematsu
- Song(s): 'Secret of the Deep Sea'
- Posted: 2007-09-14, evaluated by djpretzel
- Album: Featured on Final Fantasy VII: Voices of the Lifestream
"ReMixing has always motivated me to expand my musical palette. My goal for Hydrophone Breakdown was to delve into the soundscapes of more experimental bands like The Flaming Lips and The Most Serene Republic. What I like about the original is its drawn-out structure, and interesting harmonic progressions. I tried to hold onto those elements while reinventing everything else.
Producing this track also gave me a great chance to demo my Nord Electro Rack, which was responsible for the piano, rhodes, and B3 sounds. The drum programming was done in Fruity, as was the synth bass (with Osc3x). The live instrumentation was care of my trusty Bach Stradivarius, the beater Yamaha guitar I used in "Anthem," and my friend's Ernie Ball Musicman bass, which shows up at the end. I also recorded the backwards guitar parts specifically for this, but can't remember what guitar or amp I used.
The bridge from the original is a clever bit of writing, so turning that into its own segment of the ReMix was easily the most satisfying part of the arrangement.
Before I finish, I'd like to say that I'm honored to have my track featured on a project this impressive (both in terms of size and quality). I'd also like to thank Jimmy (BGC), Chris (Hemophiliac), and Mattias (Another Soundscape) for their feedback, Andy (zircon) for the small (but appreciated) production touchups, and the other artists on VotL for rocking my aural cavities with awesomeness."
So sayeth Judge, ReMixer, and owner of much quality musical gear I am jealous of, JigginJonT. I'm always interested in seeing what direction Jon takes with a piece, because as a multi-instrumentalist with a wide variety of influences and capabilities, he's always got a lot of potential options. Here he couples a garage-ish drum track with a synth bass, rhodes, and a lot of neat backwards guitar textures, sonar pings, etc. You've gotta love the stylistic transition at 1'55" where Jon busts out his Bach and gets loungy wit da B3, too. Every last instrument, every last component of this arrangement has CHARACTER; that sounds like an empty, unprovable claim, but listen and see if you agree. It's hard to articulate, but Jon has a very effective way of ensuring that each individual piece lives and breathes on its own, in a musical ecosystem. Sort of like Bio-Dome, only not crappy and without Pauly Shore. Later in the mix things become downright serene, with drums dropping out and acoustic guitar serving as the rhythmic push. You can hear the Flaming Lips influence; it'd be interesting at some point to see whether Jon could either sing himself or collab with an appropriate vocalist and get some lyrics rockin', as I think his style(s) would work well with such, but his instrumentals are certainly more than satisfying as-is, this is just curiosity on my part. This is a wonderfully organic piece that grows on you with each listen; kudos to Jon for another surprising arrangement that manages to incorporate his many talents into a single cohesive whole.
Discussion: Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the Just wanted to say that this is in my top five on the entire site.
It's in just about any playlist I make, and as others have said, it
just grew on me. Helps that I went back and played FFVII again not
too long ago, so the original is fresh in my mind. Good stuff, man.
- JagerBaBomb on August 18, 2012
- JagerBaBomb on August 18, 2012
And we're back to the aggressive indie rock that Jon debuted for
F-Zero. You can REALLY hear how his ability to work in this genre
increased. He brought his A game for this one. The LFO on the bass
sounded great. The mix of synthetic/reverses with the acoustic
drums and rhodes/piano was VERY well done. This is the first song
that Jon's drums really have a lot of meat behind them. The trumpet
playing lends itself well to the indie style; i.e. throw everything
in there but the kitchen sink! The piano is a thinner sound that
what we've heard from Jon, but it works well in context. The guitar
playing was solid as was the recording of it. He captured the sound
well. I love the sonar pings in there. They really sounds great!
When everything comes back in at the end, it really kicks hard.
Great vibe, great sound, and excellent execution from Jon!!
- tweex on August 4, 2010
- tweex on August 4, 2010
Sometimes I give out "sampler" discs of ReMixes to friends, and
this is one I always include.
This is probably in my top ten of all OC ReMixes. I love the quiet, unassuming beginning that bursts into sound with the big, bombastic percussion. It's like Beckett007's Flashback ReMix, in that sense, and I really like that one too. The difference between Flashback "Memory Leak Suite" and this is that the arrangement here rocks. You never get bored, because there's always that shift from quiet moments to big percussion blasts, and a little jazzy noodling in between. Mad props to JigginJonT.
- L. Adam Bell on March 19, 2010
This is probably in my top ten of all OC ReMixes. I love the quiet, unassuming beginning that bursts into sound with the big, bombastic percussion. It's like Beckett007's Flashback ReMix, in that sense, and I really like that one too. The difference between Flashback "Memory Leak Suite" and this is that the arrangement here rocks. You never get bored, because there's always that shift from quiet moments to big percussion blasts, and a little jazzy noodling in between. Mad props to JigginJonT.
- L. Adam Bell on March 19, 2010
At first I wasn't very interested in this song, but the more I hear
it, the more I love it. Now there isn't a single part of it that I
don't enjoy. Excellent work.
- SubNormal J3 on July 13, 2008
- SubNormal J3 on July 13, 2008
Wonderfully varied textures throughout, with a very excellent sense
of space and a distinctly human touch. Trumpet playing as great,
and the bass is nice. I like how how this could go to any number of
new directions at any moment, and frequently does. The section with
the solo trumpet and grungy synth was my favorite; I totally agree
with the write-up that each instrument has a lot of
character.
Cool mix, check it out guys. :-)
- OA on January 17, 2008
Cool mix, check it out guys. :-)
- OA on January 17, 2008
damn there's a lot going on in this track that I loved, but I think
that piano/guitar breakdown is king. that bass is sexy too; i love
how it sounds sorta muted/muffled, sorta like how horns are muted
to relate the idea. great track, man.
- MisterBiggler on October 2, 2007
- MisterBiggler on October 2, 2007
This is definately one of my favourites of what has been my
favourite OCR compilation so far.
JJT is my favourite OC composer too anyway.
Once again it's refreshing to hear the acoustic guitar when it comes in sound like it could be someone sitting next to me playing it rather than super-human production creation.
JJT's music is great in that it is both explorative and challenging while being engaging at the same time.
Many complicated compositions often get too attached to being challenging to the point where they become endless dissonant hooks devoid of emotion.
This is not the case here.
Can't wait to hear what's next.
- MojoHamster on September 24, 2007
JJT is my favourite OC composer too anyway.
Once again it's refreshing to hear the acoustic guitar when it comes in sound like it could be someone sitting next to me playing it rather than super-human production creation.
JJT's music is great in that it is both explorative and challenging while being engaging at the same time.
Many complicated compositions often get too attached to being challenging to the point where they become endless dissonant hooks devoid of emotion.
This is not the case here.
Can't wait to hear what's next.
- MojoHamster on September 24, 2007
bonsai;321153 wrote: Also my favourite from the album. Played this song to a friend of mine who's in a band and didn't mention to him it was a remix, after it was over he asked which band had played this song as he wanted to listen to more.
I think that about sums up.
[URL="http://myspace.com/championvinyl"]
Closest thing I have to a band right now.[/URL]
- JJT on September 20, 2007
Also my favourite from the album. Played this song to a friend of
mine who's in a band and didn't mention to him it was a remix,
after it was over he asked which band had played this song as he
wanted to listen to more.
I think that about sums up.
- bonsai on September 20, 2007
I think that about sums up.
- bonsai on September 20, 2007
I really love this track.. elegant, and I just love the drums,
awesome stuff man
- underthesun on September 19, 2007
- underthesun on September 19, 2007
I didn't like this on first listen. It just didn't work. Now I love
it and I can't explain why. Great feel.
ps, my track was constructed with 3.4 aswell, it does the job :D
- Fishy on September 16, 2007
ps, my track was constructed with 3.4 aswell, it does the job :D
- Fishy on September 16, 2007
Hemophiliac;318452 wrote: the more i listen to this piece the more it grows on me...and hopefully other people feel the same way.
QFT
Always the sign of an excellent piece of music IMO. Pretty much agree with everything Hemo said. Favorite part has to be the acoustic guitar strumming though. Really lovin all of the variations and chord structures. Great stuff dude.
- avaris on September 15, 2007
big giant circles;318477 wrote: Fruity Loops 3-something FTW. Nice work, Mr Jiggin. :nicework:
3.4, but who's counting? :tomatoface:
- JJT on September 15, 2007
Fruity Loops 3-something FTW. Nice work, Mr Jiggin. :nicework:
- big giant circles on September 14, 2007
- big giant circles on September 14, 2007
this piece is a great example of dramatic contrasts in sound.
desite being totally different the harsh edge to the drum work and
synth bass, goes well with the electric piano and very legato
trumpet.
the more i listen to this piece the more it grows on me...and hopefully other people feel the same way.
excellent work :D
- Hemophiliac on September 14, 2007
the more i listen to this piece the more it grows on me...and hopefully other people feel the same way.
excellent work :D
- Hemophiliac on September 14, 2007
