OCR04816 - *YES* Final Fantasy 6 "Bringer of Ruin"

[Liontamer]

Artist Name: jnWake

Collabers: minusworld (guitars), Jabo (guitars), Unknown Pseudoartist (Kefka laughs).

As usual, another DoD month means another submission! This time, I decided to tackle one of those ridiculously overcovered VGM tunes: Dancing Mad! There are a huge amount of covers of this track already, so it was a challenging prospect... OCR already has a couple metal takes on the track from awesome mixers like pud, zircon and Lashmush, while DoD had already seen its own versions from the likes of Cory Johnson and Pokerus. If you also just look at YouTube covers you'll find takes from GaMetal and other metal artists, but also more creative takes like Shnabubula's reversed tiers remix. With so many covers, what could I add? Well, for my take I decided to not follow some principles that many (but not all) covers seemingly follow: begin with a long build-up, have the main melody of Tier 1 be a slow part likely featuring a singer, follow the Tier structure of the source and, finally, be very long! Hence, I decided to make something more action oriented and less long (not short!) as my guiding principles. I also decided I'd not necessarily follow the order of the original and threw riffs wherever I felt they fit the most!

As usual, I recruited collabers to help me. Jabo and minusworld both played guitars here, each having a solo and each playing one side of the rhytm doubletracking. Jabo also played the bass. Finally, I recruited UPA to do some Kefka laughs in a couple of spots, which he nailed awesomely.

Anyway, I think this came up pretty well so I hope you enjoy!

Breakdown (I'll reference timestamps from the YT link):

0:00-0:05: Starting with a bang! Chord progression is a modification of the main Dancing Mad one, just with funny synth arpeggios on top!

0:06-0:36: Guitar riff is a variation over the main riff of Tier 4 (7:03 on the YT vid, basically changing it to just straight 8ths). The Dancing Mad chord progression returns on strings/choir soon after.

0:36-0:42: Basically a sped up version of the chords at 0:30 in the original.

0:42-1:00: Main melody of Tier 1 on guitar (0:55 of the source). On the usual Dancing Mad cover this part is slow and usually sang but screw that!

1:01-1:25: The part that follows directly after the main melody (1:23 on the YT link), but I changed the time signature to 12/8 for a triplet feel which is super heavy. Melodies had to be adjusted accordingly.

1:25-1:40: A variation over the original chords to create some drive as we return to 4/4. We also move from C minor to C# minor. 1:36 is a repeat of the 0:36 section, now on C# minor.

1:40-2:05: We return to 12/8 for a heavy take on the first riff of Tier 2 (2:43 in the YT vid).

2:05-2:36: This is the part that follows (3:16 from the source). For extra chaos I added some modified melodies from Tier 3 here (4:47 and Kefka's theme are played on harmonized guitars with a heavy flanger effect, while 5:04 and 5:09 are played on organ).

2:36-2:51: Parts from the ending on Tier 2 are adapted here, first 4:06 from the YT vid and then the chords at 4:39.

2:51-3:12: Main melody of Tier 4 (8:27 on the link) on piano and later trumpet. Usually this part is left for an emotional ending and guitar solo so I thought it'd be neat to feature it earlier.

3:12-3:16: This is the buildup that begins Tier 4 (6:33), first you have the stacking of 4ths and then the staccato augmented chords. UPA's Kefka laugh hits there as a transition to the following section. I like to think that if this was the actual soundtrack of something it'd be the transition to the second, crazier, phase.

3:16-3:30: On this part I took the organ arpeggios of the original (at 8:00) and modified them to fit a 4/4 feel but on triplets. Every 4 bars there's a break where the organ plays the chord progression that plays just before this section in the original (7:54 for example).

3:30-3:41: Lots of playing around Kefka's theme, first on bass then on synths then on rhytm guitar and finally on lead guitars. Piano in the backing is playing melodies from Tier 3 (4:59) and when the synth hit a trumpet does the harmony from Tier 4's take on the Kefka melody (8:06 for example).

3:41-3:45: Transition is the part from 8:22 but on straight 8ths and repeated many times.

3:45-4:11: Jabo's guitar solo! Backing is a modification of the first riff of Tier 4 (7:10, organ is the most evident quote).

4:11-4:16: Mini keyboard solo, chord progression is the same that the organ played on the 3:16-3:30 section.

4:16-4:37: minusworld's solo! The riff is basically a faster version of the one from 2:05-2:36.

4:37-4:44: Keyboard solo is a quote from Dream Theater's Octavarium. This was Jabo's idea!

4:45-5:01: Here, guitar plays arpeggios from Tier 3 (5:39) while the trumpet plays the bass from that section as a melody. This is followed by some diminished chords and arpeggios taken from 6:04.

5:01-5:28: Repeats from the first half of the song, the main riff and the sped up chords! There's some slight variations over their first appearances.

5:28-5:50: Main melody from Tier 4 returns on full force, now on guitar! Piano melody is playing a variation of the main melody from Tier 1 and the harp is doing the classical FF arpeggio over the chord progression of this section, which first follows the source but then dips into "original writing".

5:50-6:12: A repeat of 1:01-1:25, now on C# minor. On the second half a trumpet plays a variation of the main melody from Tier 4.

6:13-end: Chords of this section are based on the chords that end the first half of Tier 1 (0:39 in the link), but with some variations. Source begins with chords over D and then C, while here we begin with C# to D# then back to C and finally on D. However, the idea of the source's riff (ascending chords over a pedal tone) is kept.

Whew... that's a long breakdown.

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Games & Sources

Source: Dancing Mad

[prophetik music]

indeed starts with a bang. so much of a DT vibe on this immediately off the jump - octavarium and the astonishing both are showing up here to my ear. i really like the faster approach to the main dancing mad theme at 0:42. switching to 12/8 after that is a great idea to make those chord stabs have more impact, and it transitions back to 4/4 with those sets of three chord stabs - that's a great way to switch back and feels great in context.

2:05's a bit harder to follow, as expected. the flanged effect is nuts, it's really wild and fits kefka's laughing theme well. there's a slam transition at 2:51 to the piano for the ascending organ theme (really expected a ragtime piano tone here based on the other influences) - i didn't like that transition at all, as it felt very medleyish. the brassy lead that follows it right away too sound pretty bad, as does the organ that comes in after the ascending chord patterns. the laugh is great! what a character-filled sound. we finally get our ragtime fix at 3:31 as it gets into a solo section. the solos are excellent as expected, and while i don't think there needed to be a ton of references to the original, what's there is gravy. love the octavarium quote.

5:01's really heavy and feels very intense. the build into 5:28 is excellent and i love the prelude callout in the background of this section. this whole section is a great build into 5:50, and the switch to 12/8 is great although i really expected to have more going on in the drums here given where we are in the track at this point. there's a few notes in the right ear at 6:10 in the descending synth line that i think are not particularly in the right key. there's the intensifying chord patterns and then it's done on a non-ending, which is a bit of a disappointment.

what an arrangement. this is nuts, exactly what i come back to ocr for. there's a few specific elements i didn't care for (the slam transition at 2:51, the lack of an ending, the drums are kind of boring throughout), but the highs are so high that i don't particularly care. from an execution standpoint, the guitar work is superb, and the mixing is really solid - it's very guitar-forward like the influencing track and drives forward well. i think it's not quite as punchy as i'd have liked, especially in the kick, but overall it's very solid and clear.

this is a super fun addition to the catalog. great job.

 

 

YES

[Liontamer]

I'm half asleep... Read the title as "Badger of Ruin"... That's your next track title then. :-P

I'll agree with proph on the drums needing a lil adobo to spice 'em up, but we'll live. Pretty cool stuff, mad lads!

YES

[Hemophiliac]

I'm surprised this is still on the panel just over two months because hot damn, this is fire.

jnWake's signature keyboard synths and pristine mixing highlighted by terrific performances by Jabo and minusworld.

This arrangement is fantastic, anchored to the source as a basis for the insane soloing by everyone.  You guys are just showing off, sick.

Slam dunk YES