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OCR03621 - *YES* Final Fantasy 4 & 1 "Hymn to the Crystals"


Gario
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EDIT (8/18): Here's the WAV.

RebeccaETripp
Rebecca Tripp

http://www.crystalechosound.com/
ID: 48262

Game(s): Final Fantasy 1 and on (had FF4 and FF1 in mind mostly)
Song Title: Hymn to the Crystals
Songs Remixed: Prelude
Comments: I was going for a sort of mystical/reverent feeling.  It has spacey synths and VSTs of full choir, solo boy and solo soprano along with some background instruments.
 
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Mmm, this is delicious. I can totally see where you took this arrangement; it does sound like something you might hear in a church choir, with how you move your voices. The harmonizations are absolutely great (ESPECIALLY at 2:08... made my hairs stand on end, there). Sounds like something from Morten Lauridsen, with those vocal clusters.

The orchestration is pretty great. The choir at 0:19 is really artificial sounding, which is strangely in contrast with everything else in this track. I don't know why you chose that sample rather than going with what you used throughout the rest of the piece - it strikes me as intentional (since you show later you have a better choral sample), but I can't figure out why. The solo soprano also starts to sound artificial, as the piece goes on - it's a combination of the vibrato remaining the same and the lack of lyrics (even fake ones!) against the rest of the choir. Neither are deal-breakingly bad (hell, in most other contexts the soprano would be pretty damn good!), but it's something to be aware of.

Otherwise, I've got nothing else but praise for this one: the arrangement is divine, and the production is spot-on. I absolutely love this piece - easily one of your best to date. Great work!

YES

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I can pretty much quote-vote Gario here.  Very unusual but effective harmonies; I can see why Gario liked them even though they're surprising to the untrained ear.  Vocals are a little overly fakey, especially the one at 0:19 with its mechanical vibrato, and the baritones sound tuned just a hair below their natural range.  The ending is just a little overly drawn-out, but that's just getting nitpicky, and I don't really have any other criticism.  Beautiful work.

YES

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  • 2 months later...

The opening "AHHH" at :18 just felt kind of there and disconnected from arranging the "Prelude" and the tone of the rest of the track, but we'll move on.

Pretty solid combinations of voices and instruments, and the vocal interplay was always interesting to listen to. No one instrument was the core focus or driver here; rather you had the plucked strings and two different vocal lines taking turns with the "Prelude" melody. It works surprisingly and effectively well. Nice work, Rebecca!

YES

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  • Gario changed the title to (2017/01/20) *YES - TAG* Final Fantasy 1 & 4 'Hymn to the Crystals'
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