OCR03357 - *YES* Final Fantasy 9 'The Journey Home'

[Chimpazilla]

Username: Averruncus
Real Name: Avery Shen
Email: 
Works: https://soundcloud.com/avery-shen
UserID: 54063

The Journey Home
Link to track: 

Origin: Final Fantasy IX

Sources:
Unforgettable Sorrow/Endless Sorrow (with elements from the piano arrangement)
The Place I'll Return to Someday theme (more specifically Terra)
A Song from Her Memory/Melodies of Life
Star-Crossed Lovers/Bittersweet Romance

As FF9 is my favorite game of all time and it's soundtrack is partially responsible for me being interested in music, doing an arrangement based on FF9's music has been a goal of mine for a long time, but I never really got round to doing it until last year. Unfortunately with the release of the highly anticipated soon to be released Final Fantasy IX: Worlds Apart, my track might be a bit redundant, but I'll give it a shot anyway!

The overarching theme for the track is one of belonging and home, which are the central themes of FF9. I choose to start with Endless Sorrow since it, to me, has one of the strongest themes of belonging, as it play in the Black Mage Village after the gnomes join. Both groups in a sense share the lack of belonging (Black Mages created for war while the Gnomes are from an entire different planet) and share a home since they have no where else to go. I kind of just went with whatever came to mind after that, but to me, the song is about the story of Zidane's journey to find the place he belonged, ending with him ending up with his beloved. Not a great explanation, but I can't express properly what I was looking to achieve, sorry!

The track is by far the largest/most complex I've ever attempted and has been an important learning experience for me in terms of arrangement and mixing. I'm not sure I'm entirely happy with how it sounds, but I've hit a wall (from listening to it hundreds of times) and can't really make any more meaningful changes anymore. I tried to go for a more realistic recorded orchestral feel in my mix, but my arrangement doesn't quite hold up. Despite that, I'm still proud of the outcome and am looking forward applying the experience I've gained in improving my next work.

I hope you enjoy it, thank you for your time!

[Chimpazilla]

This is really lovely and well crafted.  It is emotional and haunting.  This is an easy yes for me if the source is there, gonna check that later.

[DragonAvenger]

No issue on source usage here, the mix is rife with themes that are easily recognizable. I'm a little concerned that this is a bit too medley-esque, but I think for the most part the sources all compliment one another and share similar themes. I'd have liked a little more integration between them, however. That being said, I think the mix progresses well between the themes and works well to tell an overall story and does not suffer from disjointed-ness. Plenty of personalization throughout, and while the sample aren't fooling me for their realism, I think they are well produced and convey a lot of emotion. The mix is lovely, and I hope to hear more from you soon!

 

YES

[OceansAndrew]

This is great, with really well thought out dynamics and a really nice collection of themes. I love how unrushed it is, and how the sources chosen all combine into a pretty cohesive whole. I am not super familiar with the FF9 soundtrack, so I listened a few times before vetting all the sources, and before I knew which source was what, it all felt like a realized whole, although with a few parts that stretched out between themes. Nice work, I can tell a lot of care has been put into this, and it's really nice. 

 

I look forward to what you might work on next

 

Yes

[Palpable]

Despite not being overly familiar with the themes, I could tell when a new one was starting. Still, this had the cohesiveness needed to stand alone as a single piece and not a medley. The transitions are well done, and to echo everyone else, the dynamics of the piece are excellent. It's not live-orchestra level quality, but extremely listenable, and the execution is absolutely selling your great ideas. I think this is great and easily deserves to be on OCR.

 

YES

[OceansAndrew]

timestamps that are somewhat questionable but im pretty sure on:

1:20ish in the ReMix sounds like 1:20 in Terra but heavily modified. Probably too much to count.

3:46 is :30 from bittersweet romance 100%

 

[Chimpazilla]

I think we need a source breakdown for this track.  I started one, can anyone jump in and help me complete it?  Much appreciated!

• 0:00-0:07 original intro
• 0:07-0:55 endless sorrow
• 0:55-1:22 endless sorrow
• 1:22-1:41
• 1:41-1:55
• 1:55-2:47 the place I'll return to
• 2:47-3:12 the place I'll return to
• 3:12-3:32 endless sorrow
• 3:31-3:46 - Dunno source name, but I know it's in the ending at least (Deia)
• 3:46-4:04 - Bittersweet Love
• 4:04-4:15 - Bittersweet love
• 4:15 - 5:04 Melodies of life
• 5:05 - 5:36 - 
• 5:36 - End Bittersweet love

After 4:15 I'm pretty lost.  Help meh.  Edit this post if you can help.  Thanks.

 

[Liontamer]

The track was 6:25-long, so I needed at least 192.5 seconds of source material here for the FF9 OST tracks to dominate the arrangement. I counted...

0:07-1:21.5 - "Endless Sorrow"
1:55-2:16, 2:18.5-2:42, 2:47-3:12 - "Terra"
2:57.5-3:29 - "Endless Sorrow"
3:44-4:10 - "Bittersweet Love"
4:15.5-5:01 - "Melodies of Life"
5:36-6:17 - "Bittersweet Love"

...or 273.5 seconds. I basically heard what Chimpazilla heard. Whatever other connections I couldn't make out didn't matter as far as meeting our standards, as this arrangement was already strongly referential to the FF9 source tunes.

This was a smooth, seamless combination of themes with some original transitions that worked nicely. It's beautiful and expressive for sampled orchestration, and the dynamic shifts throughout worked wonderfully. The soft touch of the keys for the "Melodies of Life" section at 4:15 was a highlight as far as the writing.

Not to make you the designate replacement for the late Reuben Kee (who we miss terribly), but it's meaningful to have another great Singaporean contributor to the community. Welcome aboard, Avery, and we hope you'll submit more arrangements our way!

YES

[Emunator]

S'good. Just quickly co-signing this, absolutely beautiful arrangement and very smooth, dynamic fusion of themes. I didn't have any serious holdups about the realism of the sequencing - any small issues were literally only present for a note or two and were completely mitigated by the rest of the track. Quality piano work, I really liked that section. Source usage checks out, and your arrangement of the themes removes any concerns about "medley-itis"

Lovely work.

YES

[DaMonz]

This is gorgeous. The sample quality is excellent, and the orchestration is beautiful and very expressive. I really like how the arrangement never settles, but still takes its time to enjoy every section to its fullest. Things never feel rushed, and it all flows really well. Great highs and lows to keep things interesting throughout. Everything is well balanced. Each instrument has its own place and role, and is used accordingly in a very tasteful manner. I'm also impressed at how all these multiple themes are incorporated together in such a beautiful progression.

 

Great arrangement, great production, and the source usage definitely checks out! Although, the encoding doesn't comply with the Submission Standards. You should send a 192kbps version.

 

YES (conditional on encoding)

[Sir_NutS]

Instrument quality is good.  I think you managed to do a lot with the originals here.  Extending and expanding on its sections and motifs, as well as bringing a lot more emotion to the composition and tying it all up in a neat package.  It feels as if whereas some of the originals tell a short story, your remix tells a long tale that feels adventurous at times and ponderative at others.  There's a fair amount of attention to detail and I thought it was also carefully paced.  This remix expresses a wide range of emotions throughout and that is very impressive.

I think a couple of things could've been worked on to make the song better.  First, humanization at some sections was a bit lacking.  the piano in the break felt like it could've been softened a little.  Biggest issue for me was in the fuller sections with all the instruments such as 1:08 seem to have some slightly loud resonances with the brasses and wind instruments that could be eq'd better.  

Overall, I think that besides getting a bit of a better eq in the fuller sections, most of my gripes are nitpicks and this track is solid.  YES.

[Gario]

Mmm, this is such a rich orchestration of some great Final Fantasy IX music. Sounds like you really nail's the Celtic vibe of the sources with the arrangement here - lots of wood flute, and some real nice 'big' moments to follow, giving this one some depth. The sources are well incorporated throughout the track, so it checks out on that front, as well. Using "Place I'll return to" to break up the Endless Sorrow source really brings some depth to the arrangement, and how the sources blend from one to another is brilliant. Not 100% on how the last two sources tack on, at the end (it sounds like two different songs, almost), but since they're wonderfully done, as well, I don't feel it takes it down much, at all.

The instruments are well orchestrated, humanized properly, and fill the space beautifully. Seems like an easy pass, for me. Great work.

YES