Palpable Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 remixer name: the prophet of mephisto song name: a world without sin ost name: to znaarkand (FFX) by nobou uematsu this is a resub from mid-2006. the piece has been through various iterations since then in my pathetic attempts to make it sound real. none of them worked very well. after much begging, nutritious made this sound like a real orchestra instead of the mess that was my original version. i think that this is the seventh version i've done to date. when i asked if he wanted to be listed as a co-remixer, he said that he was just 'facilitating'. so he gets honorable mention =) this song (and, in turn, this game) means a lot to me. when i started working on this song in april of 2006, i was in the middle of a really tough semester. i was just starting to play through FFX at nights after classes, and it turned into a refuge of sorts - i'd come home after hours of being told how poor of a student i was, and then turn on the ps2 to hear this song. it was freeing, in a way. it's still probably my favorite VG song of all time. i started this arrangement as an adjusted string quartet - two violins, no viola (i hate writing in alto clef), and a string bass - and added in a viola later to make a quintet. as i worked on it, though, i just couldn't help adding in brass and winds to make for a full orchestrated piece. the addition of percussion was a last-minute thing, and it really helped emphasize some of the major parts of the piece. you'll notice i do a lot behind the melody - one of my hallmarks when i do orchestral writing is to have these little three-second features of different instruments. so, you'll have the melody, but you'll have the horns, and then the bones, and then viola...etc. this is really noticeable about 2/3rds of the way through the piece, as the intensity is ramping up. i consider this one of my best remixes that i've ever done, and even though it's as old as it is i still use it for auditions for jobs and the like. thanks for judging. BRAD Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted November 29, 2009 Share Posted November 29, 2009 I'm afraid the articulations don't have enough subtlety for a solo string section. Some of the notes need to be more legato when the attack is uniformly relatively fast. The arrangement is alright, if not terribly risky. The main thing I can't get past is that the strings are really washy and uniform. You need to get ahold of some alternative articulations and use them to make the performance sound more natural. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
big giant circles Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 Pretty source, nice song in general. The glaring problem right off the bat is as Vig said, the fake strings are not at all convincing, mainly due to the lack of articulated variety. Up until like 2:35 where the strings finally get some support and aren't so Spartan does the fakey-ness become less of a critical factor. But even afterwards, I'm a little surprised, because Justin usually does some pretty convincing work with free/cheap samples, but for whatever reason, this kind of had that low-end keyboard preset sound to it. 4:00ish was not bad, simply because the arrangement was moving enough that it overrode the quality of the samples. Eh, tough call, I mean, it's not a bad arrangement, I really can't say I had a problem with that at all. But IMO, the first 2.5 minutes sort of anchored this one down where it might have otherwise succeeded. Since this sub is like 3 years old, I hate to say this, but I'm gonna ask for a resub using better string samples in at least the first 2-3 minutes. I didn't really care all that much for the brass later on, particularly the trumpets, but I'm willing to overlook those since the arrangement was nice enough and had some solid emotional energy. RESUB Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted December 1, 2009 Share Posted December 1, 2009 I have to agree with my fellow judges here. While the arrangement overall is very pretty and emotive, the sample usage (especially during the first half of the song) brings it down. Like Vig my main hang-up was the attack and that the strings felt distant and a bit washed out. The arrangement probably could've done more as it feels like it's dragging slightly at the moment but I guess that's more personal taste (screw epic) than anything else. You did use the source properly and the arrangement certainly has some moments but overall I didn't think the arrangement outweighed the production.. Sorry Brad. NO(resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Palpable Posted December 1, 2009 Author Share Posted December 1, 2009 I was a little torn on this so I didn't put down an initial vote, but ultimately I agree with what the others have said here. This reminded me of a PS-era RPG. Excellent writing, I really liked the arrangement (and I also love "To Zanarkand"), but the strings sound uniform and unrealistic, there's no getting around it. When other orchestral elements come in later, there was more to focus on and it wasn't as big a deal. Sorry Brad and Justin. I think you guys have both done better than this in terms of production before. NO (resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts