OCR04518 - *YES* Final Fantasy 8 "Deling City Nights" *PROJECT*

[Liontamer]

Sometimes I go into a song having a genre in mind. Other times I let the song guide me. Since I was on a tight deadline, I let the song guide me. The whole song pointed to jazz. The drums felt like something out of a spy movie. The bass felt like it belonged in a jazz standard. The chords itched for some (minor) reharmonization. I wanted to go short and sweet both to fit the genre and because I've been practicing doing more in less time. Hearing multiple people say they wish this lasted longer felt incredible.

While this is derivative of the source (similar to JohnStacy's "Reflecting Pool" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcxrPNbBCrM), except with the tempo sped up), I wanted to be faithful to both the Bebop genre and Galbadia Garden. It was a hard balance to strike, but I feel subtle nods to the original track the whole way through and lowering the BPM from Bebop tracks (Bebop is usually 300 bpm+) helped find that compromise. The track also does a good job teasing you for more, while throwing in some amazing musicianship makes for a short and sweet track leaving everyone wanting a little more.

Thanks to Dionté George for contributing an AMAZING Saxophone lead, dpMusicman for the wonderful piano that has so many parts that fit well, theBitterRoost for doing an amazing job on those drums, and MegadudeXD for some extra drum fills.

Source breakdown:

0:00 - 0:10: Intro
0:23 - 0:46: Both the saxophone and the vibraphone are playing the main melody. The Bass is also carrying the original bass line
0:46 - 1:09: While the Tenor Saxophone completes the first solo, the Marimba is playing the bass part from the original song
1:09 - 1:32: The Vibraphone is playing the original main melody along with the Tenor Saxophone again
1:32 - 1:55: The Tenor Saxophone completes the second solo while The Marimba is playing the bass part again; this time doubled an octave to be heard better among the chaos
1:55 - 2:18: The Saxophone plays the original melody until about 2:07 and slowly transitions to doing its own thing. The Marimba is playing the bass, but this time in one octave. This is because the Upright Bass is also back to the original bass part. The Vibraphone is also playing the original melody the whole way through.

 

[MindWanderer]

This sounds like perfectly fine jazz to me on production and performance fronts. It's not my favorite genre, but I respect it for what it is.

Source usage is tight. The marimba and vibraphone are much too subtle to count as source usage IMO, especially when they're only playing the bass, which doesn't have much to it to begin with. This takes it down to 68 seconds of identifiable source usage, which is 47%, 4.5 seconds short of 50%. I suppose you could squeeze a few more seconds of consideration out of the bass in the last section, since it is identifiably using the bass of the original, but it's subtle.

It also ends very abruptly. It very much sounds like a jam session where they just decided they were done. The last notes don't even have tails.

This is close for me on those grounds, but the performances are enough to carry it over the bar and earn my vote. I wouldn't object to this getting sent back for a real, finished ending and more overt source usage, though.

YES

[prophetik music]

interesting piano tone to start the track. drums sound great, bass is a little dense but the sax tone and mallet tones are on point. outside the bass tone, this would sound at home on an early hancock album before he found synthesizers. the sax is maybe a little loud throughout but that'd be pretty much it.

the soloing gets really cooking at 0:46 when the bass goes for a walk. it's pretty much a straight blow until maybe 1:55, and then a bit more soloing from 2:06 through the ending. cutting the instruments without even a tail is really surprising too, i don't understand any case where that'd be ideal.

you've got about 12s in the intro, 23s with the sax and vibes carrying it before the solos start, 23s at 1:09 where the sax and mallets are carrying the melody, and 12s at the end before it goes back to soloing. i don't hear the rest that you called out. that's not quite half but it's close enough. i'll note that this is right on the border of not having enough source for me.

this is a neat idea and it's performed well. the drums especially really come through as a highlight for me. nice work to everyone involved.

 

 

YES

[DarkSim]

This is a really tight package, definitely nailed the 'short and sweet' goal! Initial piano hints at something more poignant and delicate, but then we're straight into the jazz, with some nonstop sax for 2 minutes until it's over. Backing is super solid, with the drums and bass full of detail and a real natural feeling. The piano and marimba serve as neat support for the sax as well, just bolstering and accenting some of the runs.

Listening to the source afterwards, I can easily hear how one could make the connection to a jazz remix, but pulling it off is another matter. You've done that with aplomb here, great job all!

YES

[Liontamer]

The track was 2:25-long, so I needed to identify the source tune in play for at least 72.5 seconds for it to be considered dominant in the arrangement.

:00-:11.75, :19.5-:39.5, :41.5-:46.75, 1:04.5-1:08, 1:09.5-1:10.75, 1:12.75-1:16.25, 1:17.75-1:20, 1:24.25-1:31.75, 1:32.75-1:33.5, 1:55.5-1:58, 1:59.5-2:06, 2:10.25-2:18.5 = 73 seconds or 50.34% overt source usage

The source tune's very slowly paced, so I've tried speeding it up 1.5X, 2X, 2.5X, and I just don't hear all of these stated connections. Even stuff where the marimba's supposed to be playing the source bassline (from what part?), if it's even doing that, it's barely audible to the point where it seemingly wouldn't count because it's so obscured.

Regardless, I found what I needed to, so there could be more, but I'm done checking. Well performed, and what I could make out of source usage squeaks over the line, so count me in. Hated analyzing it, enjoyed listening to it. 

YES