Palpable Posted December 21, 2009 Share Posted December 21, 2009 ReMixer Name: Theophany Real Name: Jason Gallaty Forum UserID: 7553 Game Arranged: Final Fantasy 6 Songs Arranged:Overture, Fanatics Tower, Aria di Mezzo Carattere ReMix name: Many Lives for 80MP Comments: This is a kind of re-imagined orchestral and piano arrangement of the Overture, which brings in the buildup from the Fanatic's Tower and uses a section from the Aria di Mezzo Carattere for the climax instead of the Celes opera theme. My effort here was to bring out the beauty of the FF6 universe as it teeters in the balance, only to be shattered by the catastrophic events later in the game. The beginning of this mix is pretty loud, and the piece runs almost 7 minutes long, so just a fair warning. Theophany is down to one member for the time being, but I've spent a lot of time on this piece. It's definitely not perfect, but it's been awhile since we submitted anything new, and I personally think we owe the judges a sincere apology for the fuss we made over the Majora's Mask remix, and for submitting old remixes instead of making new ones. Sorry, guys. I feel really bad about it. I hope this latest submission will be considered a more honest effort. - Jason -------------------------------------------------------------- http://snesmusic.org/v2/download.php?spcNow=ff6 - 207 "Overture (parts 1-3)", 312 "Fanatics", 208 "Aria de Mezzo Carattere" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anosou Posted December 29, 2009 Share Posted December 29, 2009 Definitely an honest effort. Also 7 minutes long? It's 5 minutes This is a very long arrangement that sadly falls short in a few areas. An acoustic piece like this relies on the samples and everything didn't really click with me. The piano was muddy and buried, it worked decently well in the background but when exposed it felt odd. The strings were pretty good but the attacks sometimes felt awkward and unnatural (i.e. the same attack numerous times in a row, clumsy legato and so on). The brass wasn't used a lot, much like the woodwinds were kept in the background so I didn't have any major problem with those. Arrangement feels like it's spending a bit too much time working with minimal changes. While I appreciate the small changes in harmony and phrasing in the strings, the first minute or two feels really drawn out and the arrangement continues in basically the same gear. When the piece changes mood for the first time it almost feels out of place because of how long the part before was without building up. This big dramatic part felt a bit disjointed and the harmonies clashed in a way that didn't do the arrangement any favors (3:51-4:07). I also felt that the ending was anti-climactic. When it comes to source usage you're expanding the source a bit but mostly building on top of it. From 0:44-3:12 I wish you'd have done more with the sources instead of relying on the piano motif as much as you did. Overall this is an impressive effort and it certainly has good sides to it. However I thought the sample usage (piano especially) and arrangement is holding it back. I'm finding it hard to articulate exactly what's the issue so I hope some other judges can chime in but the arrangement feels a bit drawn out, the finale disjointed and the source usage could be expanded. I hope you revisit this because it shows a lot of promise, keep it up! NO(resubmit) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vig Posted December 30, 2009 Share Posted December 30, 2009 That piano part is rather mechanical and the sample is boxy (too much 300-600Hz). I kind of dig the arrangement in the first half, but there really should be more sparkle in the mix. By the end of the track I'm bored, even though things do start happening in the string parts, they start happening a little too late. the transition at 4:30 is promising, but it doesn't go anywhere, and by the end of the track, the ideas that were presented at the switch have been abandoned in favor of more generic slow-paced and uneventful writing. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarkeSword Posted December 31, 2009 Share Posted December 31, 2009 I agree with this being drawn out. I think that for an arrangement that moves slowly like this, you really need more expressive sequencing and better samples. The strings are really exposed throughout the piece. Keep in mind that when you're producing a piece like this, you have to write to your samples. Make them work for you; you can't say "I'm writing a violin part" and just slap a violin sample on what you write; it rarely works out for the best when you do that. Think about shifting around your parts a little; strings are overrated! Try some clarinets! Just a suggestion. Needs work. NO Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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