*NO* Final Fantasy 8, 9, 12 & 1 'The Blue Fields I'll Return to Someday'

[Liontamer]

The Blue Fields I'll Return to Someday

Remixer name: Thrixth

Real name: Tyler Leitch

Email: bintyler@aol.com

Userid: 24330

Name of games arranged: Final Fantasy VIII, Final Fantasy IX, Final Fantasy XII

Songs arranged: Blue Fields(VIII), The Place I'll Return to Someday(IX), Ozmone Plains(XII), Prelude

Links: I bet the first two are on the archives or whatnot, but FFXII doesn't have too many remixes, so if you need to hear any of them, you can go to

Comments:

When I heard "Blue Fields" and "The Place I'll Return to Someday", two songs which are very prevalent throughout their respective Final Fantasies, I immediately noticed the similarity. Both were dorian, and both had almost identical soaring themes in the middle. Building off "Blue Fields", I constructed a song that focused on the ostinato heard in the pizzicato and rhodes, and developed the themes in "Blue Fields" and "The Place" along with "Ozmone Plains", a favorite also-dorian-song of mine from FFXII. The beginning of this mix is a swirling build of the three songs that turns and turns in and out of 6/8 and 3/4 until it takes off and introduces the two soaring themes from "The Place" and "Blue Fields" before going on to develop the pieces further.

(And at the end are traces of the Prelude in the piano, so I thought I'd mention it on the Songs Arranged list)

Thank you,

-Thrixth

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Reader's Digest of the source usage: It's mostly FF8's "Blue Fields" here, along with substantial usage of FF9's "The Place I'll Return to Someday". I believe FF12's "Ozmone Plains" was just a background player from :00-:44 derived from the chorus's vox, and then arranged piano part from :53-1:02 was of the main melody. Could totally be bullshitting that, but it wasn't really important, since there was clearly enough source usage overall. The "Prelude" cameo on the piano was from 4:07-4:11.

http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF8_minipsf.rar - 103 "Blue Fields"

http://tzone.org/~llin/psf/packs2/FF9_psf.rar - 101 "The Place I'll Return to Someday"

http://www.noderunner.net/~llin/psf/packs/FFXII_psf2.rar - 307 "Ozmone Plains"

http://www.zophar.net/download_file/8938 - Track 1

Damn, right off the bat, the beats and lil' noise embellishments were way too loud and overbearing. Loud can work, but you still need to pull those back a bit. As is, they make the track extremely taxing to listen to on headphones, with the only respite being from 1:20-1:57.

From 1:20-on, the mixing needed some work. The parts were bleeding or compressed into each other a bit too much, making the sound quality seem lossy. Wouldn't have been a major issue if it didn't last most of the track, exacerbated by the volume.

I really wasn't feeling the countermelodic writing under the "Blue Field" chorus from 2:59-4:11. Something wasn't clicking there; maybe it's just me, but I'd really appreciate a second opinion. There's an awkward noise accidentally left on the ending at 4:44.

The production needs to be tightened up. Fix the mixing and you'll be in a lot better shape with this one.

NO (resubmit)

[anosou]

This was pretty cool actually, interesting take on.. well obviously quite a few themes. :3

The intro percussion is very loud. Tone it down a bit and it'll be more friendly to the ears. Didn't like the woodwind that took the lead in the intro, not a very pleasing texture and also very bright/loud. A bit awkward move between the Blue Fields theme and the FFIX theme at 0:25. Something could probably have been used to connect them a bit more, especially when they're that exposed. Loving the bass that enters around 0:27 however. Works well with the percussion writing, very dynamic and interesting. Pretty interesting writing at 1:17-1:20, that's how you connect two parts in an interesting way! Very musical. However, as Larry pointed out, the sounds do bleed into eachother.

God I love 1:56->. It's just a fantastic texture with that slight overdrive! Sadly the woodwind is very much alike in timbre and only adds to the bleeding. In my (highly personal) opinion, you should try varying up your lead sound or changing it altogether. The strings also seems to sound very much like all the other instruments.. EQ away some frequencies or use some sounds with different timbres. Again, a nice move into the new part at 2:55->.

There is some awkward writing in this new section. Sounds like you're using both minor and major sevens at parts. Check that out. Especially the counter-melodies might've some out-of-scale notes. Arranging the source melodies slightly would probably help them fit together with the new chords, try it! Otherwise, I liked the general feeling here. I could've done without the backing piano from blue fields though and adding some edgier sounds like synths would make it less droning. And yes, awkward automation reset at 4:44.

This is overall very promising, I love the general vibe of it. Sadly it has too many issues to pass it in it's current state. Sort out some of the mixing, maybe change a sound or two and double-check your arrangement and you may very well have a winner.

NO(resubmit)

[Palpable]

This arrangement is excellent. It's cool to see piano and strings paired with such an unusual beat and unique textures. Like Mattias, I adored the overdriven keyboard sound at 1:56, and I thought the calm at 4:12 was a nice, atmospheric way to end it. The themes are well-handled. The supporting writing at 2:59 doesn't quite fit the chords, true, but it's a continuation of an earlier section and it's a background element. I like the effect there.

Overall, the song is too loud. The intro percussion is louder than it needs to be, and the woodwind instrument there gets piercing when it holds a note. When it switches to the piano at 0:45, it's a much softer sound. Mixing could definitely stand to be better. The instruments bleed into each other and sound lossy, because of the compression applied to the track. It would sound stronger with some carefully applied EQ to separate the instruments. 2:59 in particular loses a lot of power from not having enough EQ.

Very close to the bar not quite over, Tyler. I think some attention to the mixing will make this an easy pass.

NO (resubmit)