OCR04859 - *YES* Final Fantasy 9 "Where the Fire Burns Brightest"

[prophetik music ⚖️]

new version 1/21, use this please: 

i've had this track on my bucket list to remix ever since i first heard it come from my tv speakers. IX's commitment to return to the roots of final fantasy was obvious right from the get-go with this nostalgic, renaissance-adjacent opening theme. the entire soundtrack has incredible music, but this is the track that's always stood out to me.

despite knowing the track's melody cold and needing a reference only for part of the harmonic material, it took me a while to get going on this - my project info says that it was started at the end of august - and i didn't really have a clear direction about where i wanted to go with it for a while. i had the kalimba and interesting string chunks thing going on in the background, and a harpsichord sound that eventually became the opening, but it wasn't until i rediscovered the bamblong percussion instrument that i was able to find the feel i was looking for. from there it flowed pretty naturally. right now the file's at just about 8.5hrs, so longer than usual for me, but it reflects how it took a while to get some of the sound design elements where i wanted them.

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Games & Sources

FF9 - The Place I'll Return To Someday

[Hemophiliac ⚖️]

Gotta kick this off because you're not able to get in here and vote before anyone else. 😅

To start off, I think the arrangement is great. I also love the ebb and flow of the dynamics throughout, and as it builds to a climax at the end. Playing with the rhythm of the original melody was nice, it gave it some new life. Especially because the original has such a heavy medieval feeling that conveys a more singular static emotion rather then a push forward and having a drive to it.

During 0:54-1:35 there's a series of large background percussive hits, they have a lot of reverb on them. The placement in the back of the mix is good, but the tail on them feels much longer then the other parts during this section. I feel like a compromise on the length of decay/reverb could help them fit in better. Right now they don't feel ideal, but are at a take-it-or-leave-it spot to me.

The distortion-like effect that starts happening around 1:56 starts to get out of control as it ramps up into that section, it gets too hot and dominates some of the other elements through 2:16. For example, the high string synth gets obliterated and I can't really follow the line that it's taking until the higher long held out note at the transition. This next bridge (2:16-2:37) bringing in the beat and bass was nice, but it sounds like the snare has lost some part of it to EQ.

2:39 when the new high synth (playing the melody) comes in, it has a really long tail or reverb that's drowning out much of the other parts and is almost overlapping with itself. This sustain from reverb or release can be adjusted and reduced to fix it. I love the energy brought to this final recap section, but the mixing here is messy. The percussion in particular sounds like it's lost some of it's sonic color due to EQ or something else, and it makes it sound strange to me. There's just a lot of fuzz and distortion sounds filling up space and just making things generally unclear.

There's about 30 seconds of silence at the end of the file too, easy fix.

The two major things that put out the fire are the drum mixing and the messy mixing in the final recapitulation. If you can take care of those things we'll be in business.

NO (resubmit)

Edit 1/22: New version.

The bamblong hits are much improved with shortened tails on them. Distortion on the middle was lightened and feels like an excellent texture now instead of taking up a lot of space. The final section has cleaned up significantly with the removal of some effects/parts. Still not huge on the drums in this final section as something about them sounds off, but that's probably more personal preference. As a whole this is an improvement and I can switch to a pass now.

YES

 

Edited January 23 by Hemophiliac
Updated version, updated vote.

[Chimpazilla ⚖️]

I like this in 6/4, better than the original which is in 4/4.  I have absolutely no problem with the big percussive hits in the back, I think they sound great.  I also have no problem with the distorted effect happening at 1:56, I think it adds really nice contrast to the soundscape.  The drums in the final passage could be mixed a tiny bit more cleanly, but I am not having trouble hearing any portion of the drums, and I actually find it fitting that the drums would wash out just a bit in this soundscape, it adds to the feel of this arrangement.

My big gripe is that I think more could be done with this arrangement.  In the intro, I would love to hear some more stuff:  nature sounds, bird calls, sfx or filtered this or that, or even a soft spoken or whispered vocal.  As it stands, the arrangement feels rather sparse and repetitive.  For example the section 0:54-1:35 feels long because nothing new is added in that section.  The breakdown beginning at 1:35 is another opportunity to add some interesting elements.  The final passage sounds great to me, and the electric guitar adds just the right amount of grittiness to that section of the track.

None of this is dealbreaker though.  This is a simple yet workable arrangement of this source.  I really do love the 6/4 time signature.  This works for me!

YES

[XPRTNovice ⚖️]

Oh man that opening gave me goosebumps. Clean strings, awesome ambiance. Really liked it right out of the gate. Enjoying the build up through :30-40. The drop at :57 is nice, but I feel like it could be bigger. Overall the track is feeling less full as it goes on; especially in the lower frequencies. It's mostly like we've got a lot of mid/high supported by the occasional bass pluck. Bringing the guitar arps up may help this a little bit, or toning down the reverb on those slappy slap slaps in the background - they bring a lot of high freq to the party and it makes the rest of it feel unbalanced/not full. 

It fills in a bit at 1:39 once you have the sustained tracks (and the slappy slaps go away). The track feels more in balance here, though I am not sure about 

2:14-2:44 is a great drop, but I feel like the snare is muddy and needs more of the high freq snap on it; it sounds almost like it's under water. I feel like maybe that's a problem with the whole drum kit, like we're missing information there. Seeing Chimp's comments above, I know I'm not crazy.

We do, however, have that kind of high freq assault again going on at 2:44 with whatever shiny shaker or synth is going on in the background. At 3:00 it departs, leaving us with a full-sounding track again. 

Ending at 3:30 is a nice way to peter out, it reminds me of all the things I liked in the beginning. 

Man it would be super cool for you to have a live guitar or bouzouki player on this (just a dream for the future) 

Overall, I love a lot about this, but I feel like it needs more work on balance before it passes the bar from me. Not a lot, but enough that I think another crack at this is warranted. 

 

NO (borderline - resubmit)

 

[jnWake ⚖️]

This will be my first prophetik vote, time to get my revenge for uh... good feedback and nice comments? Damn it.

Anyway, this begins on D with some guitar-ish instrument playing a simple D minor motif. On the back, we can hear the (I assume) kalimba playing the main melody from the source. It's a little odd that the main melody is so quiet in the mix but I dig the vibe you created regardless. At 0:20 a bass joins in and the track slowly starts becoming more synthetic. The synth and percussion work actually remind me of Scorch 'N' Torch from Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze. At 0:54 we continue on the same melody but there's more intensity and some percussion. At 1:34 there's a small break as we move to the second melody from the source. A new section then hits at 1:54, focusing on a whistle-ish synth and a distorted electric piano kind of thing. Drums enter at 2:14, awesome change of pace! The Donkey Kong Country vibes here are off the charts. In all of these sections source usage is harder to notice, there's some hints of the main melody but it feels very liberal. In any case, at 2:40 we move to an "epic" take of the second melody, I like how you changed the melody to fit the chords. Percussion is more intense here and there's even a distortion guitar! At 3:00 it arguably turns into metal even. As a nitpick here, I wish the guitar had more presence than the synths, I need that chug. There's sort of a fake ending before we return to the initial instrumentation for the actual ending.

On the arrangement side this is pretty interesting. It begins with an acoustic feel (despite everything being synthetic) that's very fitting of FFIX's mood, but it slowly becomes more synthetic and finally climaxes into almost metal. Super fun! Source usage is clear for most of the track so no problems there. I like how you slightly modified most melodies in either timing or the actual notes to fit your intentions. Great arrangement!

On production, the mix is generally very well done. I think there's some volumes that could be better balanced, like the rhytm section before the drums hit being too loud and the distorted guitar getting buried behind the synths in the "metal section". Samples are generally pretty good, I love the distorted one that plays at 1:54 in particular. I'm not as sold on the "kalimba"-ish synths, very plucky and that gets grating. My only complaint here is that I feel this track would heavily love a pass from someone like Emunator, with a big focus on sound design flourishes. In some ways this track reminds me of our Ambience of the Forest and I think that level of sound design would bring this into even higher highs.

Overall, a really cool arrangement that explores many different styles and is nicely produced. Gave me big DKC:TF vibes and that's an immediate approval in my eyes, despite some minor production nitpicks and potential for more sound design elements.

YES

Edited March 28 by jnWake

[Emunator ⚖️]

Ohhh yeah, jnWake hit the nail on the head with the Tropical Freeze vibes. The kalimba and bamblong bring so much character to the table. What a cool spin on this source material from a textural and melodic perspective. The heavy rock transition later in the arrangement is cathartic and unexpected - I was surprised on the first listen, but by the second, I couldn't imagine the song without it.

Critique time. The vocal choir monosynth at 1:55 is carrying a very dramatic, expressive melodic moment in the arrangement, but it feels like there's not much else going on around it in the mix, so it sticks out like quite a sore thumb. The high note swell at 2:17 does not work for me, unfortunately. I see what you were trying to go for, but since nothing else in the soundscape seems to be supporting this transition, the lead ends up getting really loud and then petering out unceremoniously a few bars later. This could absolutely work, but without any transitional sound effects or sweeps, it's very hard to tell what this part of the arrangement is going for, especially in context of the full-blown changeup at 2:40. I know it's a bit cliche for me to suggest sound design/fx (though I'm glad someone else said it before me, so it's not just "Sound Design Man Recommends Sound Design" 😵‍💫) but I think that moment could really benefit from something to help convey the intent of that transition and better signal the impending change in dynamics that is being established.

The drum mix is definitely muddy and dull, despite the really intense writing, I don't think it's hitting as much as you intended. There's a lack of snap/punch in the kick and snare that, if resolved, could give the kit drums more presence without compromising the washy, consuming sound you currently have going. Without knowing what drum tools you're using, I can't suggest anything with certainty, but if the kit allows you to tweak individual kit elements, I would start by bringing some high-end back to the snare and perhaps easing off the compression, or using a slower attack, so that the transients in your drums still come through.

All that said, these are more nice-to-haves than a mandate - what you have here is undeniably transformative in more ways than one, and none of the nitpicks push the song anywhere near "unlistenable" territory, so I'm fine giving this an unreserved yes and leaving these as suggestions for the future :) 

YES

[Liontamer ⚖️]

I'm just commenting on the revised version. It's not an apples-to-apple comparison, but I was wrong about "Hunter's Community Chest" way back and I'm not gonna make the same mistake twice. Obviously, this has more energy and dynamics to it, particularly for the 2:39 section, yet this is also a fairly low-key presentation most of the way. The time sig change and deliberate pacing were very effective, and I love the instrumentation throughout with these amazing textures. Such a smart treatment of the source, this is excellent, Brad! :-)

YES