Final Fantasy 7: Aerith's Theme [ Vangelis Bladerunner Remix ]

[LjB0]

UPDATE: Found a version I'm happy enough with for my YouTube channel, link below updated.

This idea popped into my head the other day, and have had an enjoyable few days putting it together. To be honest, feel a little stuck with it. Not too sure about some of the melody instruments & worried it's a little too conventional. That said, I messed around with it for a while and this direction ended up feeling right. Interested to hear your thoughts!

Here's the [UPDATED] remix:

Here's the original:

And here's the kind of Vangelis / Bladerunner vibe I was thinking of (not directly similar!):

Thanks for listening! Really value your feedback as always.

Edited December 3, 2018 by LjB0
Updated link

[Souperion]

Well, I think you've got something neat going on here. The tones are really warm, almost dream or trance-like (not to be mistaken with the trance genre), it's pretty somnolent at the beginning and ending. I'm not quite sure what I think of the static effect, but the general direction and atmosphere is very consistent and pleasant. A little general tuning (check for places where some instruments get overpowered/sounds get muddled together and the like) and you'll have something splendid.

[sobkre]

Both of these are excellent pieces so I very much appreciate the effort. I would guess that you made this primarily for the early build up into the point between about 0:46 and 1:10 which I find to be exquisite and worth the effort on its own, well done. In the rest, however, I don't hear much synergy. Aerith's theme is very melodic and Vangelis is very atmospheric which I guess is what makes this difficult. The period after 1:10 where Aerith's theme becomes more playful especially with the quicker notes you've added changes the tone a lot and also seems to muddle the meaning of the previous Vangelis inspired part because it is so different. I wish I could offer you more constructive advice, but all I can suggest is that you could try to drastically slow down or even change Aerith's theme after 1:10 so that it works more with the Vangelis tone you have set in the first 1:10. Good luck!

[LjB0]

3 hours ago, sobkre said:

I would guess that you made this primarily for the early build up into the point between about 0:46 and 1:10 ... In the rest, however, I don't hear much synergy.

Haha - you are absolutely, 100% spot on and I couldn't agree more! I was so pleased with the synth swell at that point, the descending fake brass & the way everything almost feels too much; then realised I didn't have a plan for the rest of the theme! Ended up going very route 1 with it and just tried to include some interesting arpeggios & texture with the bitcrushed noise 'waves'.

I need a totally new angle on the whole second part or it sort of betrays the first minute, which is all I really had in mind. What do you think about flipping it all to minor chords & echoing the chase vibe of the piece below? This is kind of what I had in mind for the current second part, but you can hear I didn't follow the idea through properly:

 

[sobkre]

Minor chords sound like a better fit, but I'm not sure that high tempo chords are the best approach, unless, like you suggest, you simplify them a bit into the background and look for the End Title vibe, which sounds like an interesting option. I like this piece as inspiration for the second part as well because of its use of longer, sustained notes, which I think could really help to slow down Aerith's theme a bit, giving you some creative room to alter the upbeat feeling of the melody. If you slow it down it leaves you some room to more effectively change the feeling by adding an extra note to each segment of the theme to change it's feel, or to add a secondary melody after each segment as you did to great effect in the opening of the song. I apologize if my suggestions are unclear, unfortunately I lack the musical education to comment using more appropriate jargon.

[LjB0]

Tried a couple of minor approaches & just couldn't get the vibe right. Seems to happen a lot to my remixes - once the first idea is down it's tricky to spin a whole new version out. Shame though as I totally agree with you, sobkre, about this having more potential than it ended up with. Ah well - you do what you can do! Final version below, from my YouTube channel:

 

[Mr. Hu]

Yeah, I think you have pieces of 2 different versions of a remix kind of butted up against each other. I've seen Blade Runner (and played through FFVII...) probably a dozen times, and Vangelis's music is mostly ambient, and while the synths are easy enough to replicate (get it?), using those big pad swells and bright twinkles to flesh out a full track (not just something that sounds like BGM), even one like Aeris's theme, can be tough. I quite like the arpeggios in the second part, maybe you can reuse that idea for something in the future! 2019 is just in a few weeks......