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OCRA-0014 - Final Fantasy IV: Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption


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A really good album indeed, with a little problem : the electro !

Yeah, songs like "Anaprologue" or "Read the sine" are preatty goods, but there is too much pieces of that kind of sound. A bit disappointed.

Then, I agree that Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption is a great, great, great recorded. My favorite piece is, without a doubt, "Blue Planet in mode 7"...

What an arrangement ! Congratulations to Nathan Rich ! But after all, the others songs are amazings too, and I thank all the remixers who worked on it !

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

"Genesis of Destruction" from the FF4 album, where can I find more info on the song?

I'd like to learn more of how it was recorded and created. I cannot get enough of the song, and as an aspiring remixer for this site someday in the future, this song just blows me away- and I'm dying to learn more about it, and how it was made. :)

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Well, one day, in the OverClocked Labs, DJPretzel found a special magic formula for super soft pretzels. Then he mixed that with Pro Tools, some T-Racks, and a little FL Studio for flavor...

Okay, I'm being a jerk.

Seriously though, why not just ask the artists that made the track? I figure that would be easiest. You can find their forum profiles via their ReMixer profiles if you search for "artists" using the search bar at the top right of the page.

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courtesy of the track mastermind, and all-around good guy, Jay:

Alright...where to start. This track, Zeromus, was originally conceived by me and OA as the finale track to the FF4 project Echoes of Betrayal, Light of Redemption. And later blew up to be something well beyond either of our control. It is a result of all the people around us in the project and actually came together rather haphazard. We never could have imagined a track like this from the start. We started only knowing we wanted it to be faster and more intense than the original and were already planning on having Justin (Nutritious) come in for the orchestra. I originally had the idea of just a bombastic instrumental but when Andrew (OA) started talking about using vocals is when it took off.

We first had the idea for just a female vocalist and came up with the concept to have the lead be the embodiment of the prayers from the storyline in the game. Naturally we now needed the voices of the prayers, and who better to enlist than all the members of the project as a collective choir. I went and tracked down every single person from the project to enlist. About 22 people were able to come through and I am proud to say I used every track given to me from all the singing (Larry the Liontamer included) to the spoken word section during the female entrance.

In a rough order of who supplied the most material the choir is made up of:

Children of the Monkey Machine, DragonAvenger, Vampire Hunter Dan, Moonlapse, audio fidelity, OA, The Prophet of Mephisto, bustatunez, Mazedude, Level 99, Liontamer, theultravisitor, Loka Lafevre, Nathan Rich, Long Dao, Wiesty, Rozovian, Hy Bound, AeroZ, Abadoss, Avaris, and Ramaniscence.

We were able to get my composition teacher’s wife actually who came though and did a fantastic job as the lead female. Marcin Bela, my teacher was a big help for the song who guided me with lots of feedback and was the one who suggested the key change. How the male lead came about was kinda by accident. He showed me these tracks where he was screaming his guts and I took note of that later coming to the realization that this track could use a real Zeromus antagonist to heighten the drama and intensity. And the track from there became the rock opera epic that it would become.

I ended up taking over the direction of the track and laying down a bare-bones template for OA and Nutritious to follow. They did a fantastic job really bringing everything out I hoped for for the track. Andrew (OA) helped out with a lot of the arrangement, did all of the guitar work, and together, he and I wrote the lyrics inspired from the game. I generally wrote the female and male leads, and Andrew wrote the background Zeromus narrative and choir parts. Connor (Cyril the Wolf) improv’d the breakdown section where he loses it and helped out with a line or two of the other parts. I wanted it to be fresh for him to do that improv so I actually begged him to wait months and months to not listen to the track and lose the feeling of it being a fresh take. Thanks Connor! :) I am also rather thankful for Justin not killing me with all the tempo changes and modulations that made his job a complete nightmare. You did an awesome job buddy.

The plot here is simple if you know the game. Cecil and crew do battle with the ultimate bad guy who is living on their moon, that is the most hateful son of a gun around - Zeromus. He actually is killed before their eyes but is brought back to life; which is where the lyrical narrative from Zeromus comes from in the whispers and background screaming parts. In the story, everyone is knocked down and it seems like all hope is lost but what ends up happening is everyone on Earth is wishing and praying that the group will defeat this evil. It is their words of encouragement that ultimately guide the group to victory and which is the premise for our arrangement. We have the lead female (embodiment of the prayers) enter accompanied by the choir’s words of inspiration to make the connection of who she is. From there we have the narrative being delivered by the choir and Zeromus who actually goes back in forth with the ones fighting for the future of the planet. We have a section where the two trade off with different levels of intensity with their backing arrangement signaling their contrast. The chorus comes in as an actual battleground section where the instruments enter together and fight for dominance. The first time around we find Zeromus quite powerful and unrelenting. Which gives way later to his own breakdown in our breakdown. We then take a moment to reflect with the choir almost losing the hope to go on. But find the strength and from there ramp back up for battle and in the 2nd chorus to find Zeromus losing control and ultimately the battle.

The original source is littered throughout every section of the mix. The Breakdown where Zeromus losing it being all based on expanding that awesome dissonant syncopated section from the source. The only original section comes in the chant which is actually a borrowed section from OA’s previous track ‘Eminence Gris’ uniting the two together but still keeping with the motif of the source bassline through the progression. The OCReMix edit sadly needed to be cut short for the sake of quality and lost this section but it is included on the final release.

The mix was quite complex with about 255 choir takes maxing out my logic session and another 100+ tracks counting busses in the final mix. I tried my best but was fortunate to be able to get some help from zircon in the final stages. I sent him all the tracks with my volume automation and he tweaked things and mastered the track to get things to where you hear it now. Thank you Andy.

Other people to thank are Gary Earl and Audix for their awesome feedback that helped the track and for their stabs at mastering the track which were all fantastic in my opinion.

I really think this is the only track in the world that is actually deserving of something this ambitious and it is again the result only because of the people around me. This track has been a wonderful testament to what the community can accomplish together and I am so thankful for everyone; it became ultimately what it wanted to be and was out of my hands.

I would also suggest checking out the ff4 website for some extra bonus tracks inspired by this mix. Justin (Nutritious) is doing an arrangement focusing on the orchestra and voices with him actually taking over the part of Zeromus in an operatic way. And I am putting together an atonal version where all the parts will be played with just grand pianos. CotMM is also putting together an extended version of his take on the source. Who knows what else may come up.

The entire list of people connected to this track are as follows:

audio fidelity, Nutritious, OA, lisabela, Cyril the Wolf, Children of the Monkey Machine, DragonAvenger, Vampire Hunter Dan, Moonlapse, The Prophet of Mephisto, bustatunez, Mazedude, Level 99, Liontamer, theultravisitor, Loka Lafevre, Nathan Rich, Long Dao, Wiesty, Rozovian, Hy Bound, AeroZ, Abadoss, Avaris, Ramaniscence, Marcin Bela, Gary Earl, Audix, and zircon

Breakdown of credits:

audio fidelity: arrangement, lyrics, drums, synths

Nutritious: orchestra

OA: guitar, arrangement, lyrics

lisabela: female lead (prayer), and supporting female parts

Cyril the Wolf: male lead (zeromus)

Zeromus Choir: Children of the Monkey Machine, DragonAvenger, Vampire Hunter Dan, Moonlapse, audio fidelity, OA, The Prophet of Mephisto, bustatunez, Mazedude, Level 99, Liontamer, theultravisitor, Loka Lafevre, Nathan Rich, Long Dao, Wiesty, Rozovian, Hy Bound, AeroZ, Abadoss, Avaris, and Ramaniscence.

special thanks: Marcin Bela, Gary Earl, Audix, and zircon

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Whoa... thank you so much OA! Gotta say that was an AWESOME read. I've been working for months now on a remix of Dark Messenger from FF9- and this song inspired me to want to add vocals. I've got a male lead singer coming down next week to help with lyrics, as well as the song's composition, and we hope to get some recording done.

At least I know I am on the right track, if both Jay and I are really making Logic sweat :)

Still though, what a damn great song! Really inspiring to me as I hope to write at a quality of such someday :)

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Ota thanks for the nice comments yo - it's nice knowing people appreciated the concept and execution of grandiose finale.

Best of luck with your track. If you ever need crits I'm sure me and OA would be glad to listen to your track.

Also I do plan on taking another crack at the mix. I'm getting some more toys soon and would like to try another shot at it.

And Justin the tempo changes came about through Andrew's suggestion to have te track be slower at parts. It worked and was a good learning experience ya?

EDIT: I should also say that I kinda make or sound like my comp teacher was the singer ha. I should edit that part for Connor showing me the track with him screaming about the muffin. Can I get a link please :)

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Audio- you bet! Hell, it's even awesome seeing a comment from you on my post.

And I'll definently run my track by you guys sometime! As while I am doing this one myself, I'd love to discuss ideas with you sometime for other tracks.

Again as an aspiring remixer for the site, and film and game composition major, what better practice than to learn and/or work with the pros?

EDIT: Whatever this is about the muffin, I need to hear this. And probably would have made a pretty good bonus track ;)

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That was a great read about the finale, I still really really love this album and that track (along with it's sister track Phantom) is one of the many reasons it is so amazing.

I still haven't managed to sit down and review all the tracks on this album, partly cause it would take forever, and partly cause even now, I am just starting to really get to know some that I didn't take an immediate liking to, but it is certainly a safe bet that EoBLoR (weird abbreviation :lol:) will be my favorite OCR album for a long time to come.

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  • 3 weeks later...
I might just be missing it somewhere, but...

Could we have the lyrics to "Phantom of the Zeromus?" <3

Epicepic opera song.

Thanks :). Lyrics below:

(Choir)

Ahhh! Zeromus!

Ahhh! Zeromus!

(Female Lead)

Take this moment,

Into reflection,

And remember your path

We believe in you,

Supporting your trials,

Please hear our distant prayers for you

Together, we’ll fight for our world,

And protect it from this fiend

(Choir background)

Fire from within

(Zeromus)

Let me show you how to suffer,

My hate is supreme,

And you will not stop me! No!

(Choir background)

Essence born of hate

(Female Lead)

Never we will lay down to

Your sick and twisted lunacy

(Choir background)

Cleansing bloodstained wings

(Zeromus)

Life will cease when all is destroyed,

I will bring the end,

So come and meet your fate!

(Choir background)

Deep beyond Hell’s gates

(F. Lead)

We must bring this dawn

(Zeromus)

Dark will overcome

(F. Lead)

A new hope must become

(Zeromus)

There is no hope now

(F. Lead)

United we are strong

(Zeromus)

I will break those bonds

(F. Lead)

Our prayers will overcome

(F. Lead)/(Zeromus)

And with the havoc that you/I have wrought,

That’s brought the dark that tested our/your hearts,

We won’t let you bring eternal night

(Zeromus)

Try and stop me now

(F. Lead)

Zeromus we won’t go without a fight!

(Zeromus)

Your journey ends here!

(Choir)

Growing stillness,

In the heavens,

Darkness deeper,

Than the night,

Forcing all to,

Flee or perish,

No one leaves,

This place alive,

Come within now,

Desolation,

Mirror surface,

Bathed in black,

Endless silence,

Through the terror,

Perfect hope,

Begins to crack

Ahhh! Zeromus!

Ahhh! Zeromus!

(F. Lead)

Together, we’ll fight for our world,

And protect it from this fiend

(Choir background)

Fire from within

(Zeromus)

Let me show you how to suffer,

My hate is supreme,

And you will not stop me! No!

(Choir background)

Essence born of hate

(F. Lead)

Never we will lay down to,

Your sick and twisted lunacy

(Choir)

Cleansing bloodstained wings

(Zeromus)

Life will cease when all is destroyed,

I will bring the end,

So come and meet your fate!

(Choir)

Deep beyond Hell’s gates

(F. Lead)

We must bring this dawn

(Zeromus)

Dark will overcome

(F. Lead)

A new hope must become

(Zeromus)

There is no hope now

(F. Lead)

United we are strong

(Zeromus)

I will break those bonds

(F. Lead)

Our prayers will overcome

(F. Lead)/(Zeromus)

And with the havoc that you/I have wrought,

That’s brought the dark that tested our/your hearts,

We won’t let you bring eternal night,

(Zeromus)

I must stop this light!

(F. Lead)

Zeromus we won’t go without a fight!

(Zeromus)

No! Get Back! No!

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