Final Fantasy V Remix (Medley): Dragon Wings

[Archangel]

Hey everyone!

I've been working on this for the past week or so, and I must say I'm pretty proud of the result. =) I'm about to submit it and I thought I'd post it here first, just to see if I missed something I should improve. (However, I REALLY hope I didn't since I'm somewhat sick of these melodies after so much work and I'd really just like to move on. =D )

I'm babbling, I'm sorry, it's late where I live.

Without further ado, I give you Dragon Wings (Final Fantasy V Medley):

http://www.reverbnation.com/jakacibejarchangel

It's an orchestral/soundtrackish/epic remix with lots of exotic instruments (shakuhachi, duduk, Irish low whistle, Uilleann pipes ...).

The themes I used were Lenna's Theme, Ahead On Our Way and The Dragon Spreads Its Wings.

I hope you enjoy the music!

[HoboKa]

I'm surprised at the lack of comments here =/, granted FFV wasn't really one of the more popular ones. Still, I'm liking this a lot. Sounds pretty professional to me man - the percussion/drums REALLY add to the feel superbly, and those asian winds (don't know their names) are also add to this remix really well. Not sure about the bag pipe - interesting as it is haha. The piano work is pretty darn good too

Man this track put chills down my spine - the good kind of chills =p

Can't wait to hear your updates

Hmmm maybe the ending is a tad weak, might want to make it a bit more epic/climactic

[Skye McCloud]

As a huge fan of FFV, I HAD to listen to this. Sadly, I'm not knowledgeable in music making, so chances are I'm going to word this all very badly (Or maybe not, who knows?). I'm better at writing, so I'll try to articulate my words into a story.

To begin, the entire thing felt like it was telling the story of a great hero, during the final moments of what he would be made into a legend for.

The calm, almost sad (And very enjoyable, I wish there was an extended version of just the intro!) piano intro begins the tale. Would-be heroes are all gathered together, beaten and weary from their battle with some great evil. They feel as if they are doomed, that all they had done was for naught...

When the main hero arrives (0:57), a rallying battlecry to announce their arrival. The villain looks upon this final challenger, laughing that they would fight alone. Yet the hero is unphased, swearing to everything they knows that they will win, that they will not permit such an evil force to live any longer. The other would be heroes know, from the confidence the hero shows, that they have grown much since last seen.

Among the would be heroes is the real hero's love interest (1:56), who shares a silent stare with the hero, wherein they silently confess their love for one another, before the hero rushes off to begin the fight (2:07)

The fight goes rather quickly, and the hero vanquishes the villain. Yet as the villain dies, it curses the world, dooming it to die as well. The hero, however, has not given up.

They call upon a great force (2:35), the same forces that granted them their power to defeat the villain. They invoke this force to help them save the world, willing to sacrifice their own life if need be. The force, though not really carrying emotion itself, finds the willingness to be admirable, and together the two use all their power to stop the villain's curse.

However, you don't get to see them end the curse. Instead, the screen goes blank (3:20) and fades into a shot of the future, wherein you see all the would be heroes. The hero's love interest narrates the events, though remains vague on the fate of the hero. The would be heroes are all shown living their lives in peace, helping the people.

The love interest says they owe it all to the hero (3:51), and finally they show the love interest kneeling beside a lone grave, placing flowers at the grave with a smile on their face and tears in their eyes. As they show a close-up of the love interest, a figure kneels down beside them, placing a hand on their shoulder. It's the hero, alive! The grave is then shown to be the love interest's father, who had rushed off in the beginning of the whole story and had been killed by the villain (All this after the love interest said they hated their father, and this hatred continued on when they found out their father died and left their mother alone).

Now, this is what I visualized. What this all means is I thought it was very awesome. I was initially worried that with three songs, there wouldn't be enough song unless it was super conservative. Surprisingly, it had a nice balance of it all, I think, which is going to be important to get it submitted (Or I could just be intoxicated from the vibe it gave me and not be able to tell). Either way, it's good! VERY good. Had a very dramatic feel to it, which I wish more people did in their music.

[Turnip]

I like it, it had some lord of the ringish parts. I liked it contrasting with the 2:36 part, which was sort of less serious which I liked about FF5 being it wasnt very serious at a lot of parts.

[halc]

not too familiar with FF5 or it's music, but this is really well done, very expressive and dynamic. some of the melodic 'lead' instruments are slightly overbearing at times, but otherwise this is solid. great work!

[Kenogu Labz]

Wow! While the lead woodwinds can get a bit overpowering at times, the general arrangement was practically flawless. It's a great take on the source, and we definitely need more FFV love around here!

[Emunator]

Yeah, I agree with Kenogu Labz that it can get a bit intense/piercing at times, I still think you should submit this to OCR. I think it's got a great chance of passing, really stellar work!

[The Eluryahn]

Totally submit it! I loved it. May I ask how you got such realistic Piano?

[TheHands]

The woodwinds made me fall in love <3

Submit this, I don't picture it being rejected.

[Gario]

Hmm... It's great, what can I say? The asian instruments are piercing, so mix those down, please - wouldn't want a little thing like that to throw off the listeners.

I think we've found ourselves a new orchestral masta on OCR - first the prelude and now this .

[Archangel]

Wow, so many replies, I'm overwhelmed with joy. XD Thank you for the nice comments, everyone. I really appreciate it, it's so nice to hear that people enjoy my music.

As a huge fan of FFV, I HAD to listen to this. Sadly, I'm not knowledgeable in music making, so chances are I'm going to word this all very badly (Or maybe not, who knows?). I'm better at writing, so I'll try to articulate my words into a story.

Thanks a lot for such an eloquent and thought-out reply. I'm glad the song inspired you so much! Now I wish someone made a short CGI movie of the story you've written, I can totally visualize it too. =D

some of the melodic 'lead' instruments are slightly overbearing at times, but otherwise this is solid.

While the lead woodwinds can get a bit overpowering at times

that it can get a bit intense/piercing at times

The asian instruments are piercing

I've listened to it on another computer and I think it has something to do with my headphones/speakers, I didn't notice it before. No problem, though, it's just a simple matter of adjusting the volume a little bit. =)

May I ask how you got such realistic Piano?

You may, but I'll never tell! Nah, just kidding, it's a piano sample library called Eastwest Boesendorfer 290. If you need more details, you can PM me. =)

I think we've found ourselves a new orchestral masta on OCR - first the prelude and now this .

Hahaha, I think we need to wait for the judges' decision before bestowing honorary titles. =D But thank you very much, sir, you flatter me beyond all measure. XD

[Nutritious]

Piano sequencing feels a bit rigid to start off. Timing seems fine, but try varying up the velocities to get it sounding more natural. High strings attacks are a bit slow, putting them behind everything else, but not a big deal.

Ok, first big offender is the woodwind lead at 1:04. It's too upfront compared to the rest of the soundscape. See if you can push it back a bit, and maybe consider taking out a few of the grace notes. I've had this same problem myself (ironically, on the exact same source). The rest of the soundscape here sounds great, though.

Lead trumpet sounds fakey on the sequencing when it comes in. The note switches are awkward. Not sure what to tell you as it could be your samples. It actually sounds fine later. I think it's just a problem of switching between timbres.

Violin lead's pretty upfront as well. Try and imagine how it would sound playing alongside the rest of the orchestra, yet loud enough to still be heard above everything.

Glockenspiel is also on the loud side as well - generally percussion players stand behind the orchestra, but I guess that can be a stylistic preference.

Delayed piano was kind've a confusing choice. Everything else in the mix is real world stuff, but you have that one section with an artificial effect, which I don't quite get.

Lastly on the production side, the last sustain note on that woodwind lead 4:13 goes way sharp and ruins the moment for me. Not sure if you can fix it if it's the sample, so I'd recommend modifying it to a diff note or something to get it away from that note.

Anyway, cursory arrangement critique: I heard all the sources throughout and they were arranged very nicely. Good transitions to connect everything and some nice alterations to keep things fresh.

Overall this is a great mix. Just a few very minor changes and it should be good to go.

[Archangel]

Thanks a lot, it's always nice to get some tips from a pro. =)

I agree the mix needs some polishing, still have to wait to get some new headphones though, turns out my current ones distort the sound somehow. I'm surprised the mix is not total crap.

As far as the delayed piano is concerned, it's basically my signature instrument and you can hear it in practically all of my songs. It's not completely alone, though, there's quite a lot of other artificial stuff in there (wind effects, (slightly) electronic percussion, low kicks, etc.).

Thanks again for the tips, everyone, I really appreciate it!