ReMix:Final Fantasy Legend II "Craving for Burning Blood" 2:56

By Luhny

Arranging the music of one song...

"Burning Blood"

Primary Game: Final Fantasy Legend II (Square , 1990, GB), music by Kenji Ito, Nobuo Uematsu

Posted 2010-05-27, evaluated by the judges panel


Always great to see the handhelds getting more love; I'm still waiting for our first Atari Lynx ReMix, but even the far-less-obscure Game Boy has PLENTY of untapped soundtracks just waiting to be discovered & arranged. Even the more mainstream GB/GBC titles still seem to bear new fruit - this rock mix comes to us from newcomer Luhny, aka Christoph Luhn, who writes:

"There is probably no childhood memory of mine that I am more fond of than Final Fantasy Legend 2 for the Gameboy. I cannot recall how many times and with how many different partys I played this one. The most memorable thing about it is - in my opinion - the music. Burning Blood has accompanied me in my head over all those years and still is present as a melody that just makes me smile. I did a remix of this 5 years ago and tried to give the song a rock/metal flair to it. But I was absolutely clueless in terms of recording and mixing - as well as my guitar skill lacking. I was never satisfied with what I did there. Five years later I was able to make up with myself by doing another remix of this song. Finally it sounds like what I had in mind all those years before. I am happy with what came out in the end and I would like to share my joy with all of you. If this piece of music can at least give you a little hint of an nostalgic smile then I am already glad to have shared this one. Production wise I just want to say that the guitar parts are made via a Line6 Guitar Port and Propellerhead's Reason for the drum lines rewired into Cubase where I did the mixing. Well I guess that's it, I hope you enjoy listening. Take care"

I love it when a game, and a particular song, inspires an artist enough to revisit an earlier attempt and "do it right" - I've never heard Christoph's original version from way back, but I'll take his word for it that five years made a difference. Judge were "unanimously on the fence" - production could have been a little crisper, w/ EQ for more clarity, and the arrangement is also fairly conservative. OA summed it up well:

"Nice crisp sound overall, though I think it could stand to be normalized a bit and brought up slightly. Besides the slightly lower levels, I think the production was at the bar. I think doing 2 rhythm guitar takes and hard panning them would have improved the soundfield, but as is, it has more of a live sound to it. Playing was solid, and the solo was great, nice chops and some tasteful melodic parts.

The arrangement was definitely on the conservative side, but besides the obvious genre conversion and added percussion, there were some new backing parts, and a early on modal shift. There was also additional harmonies to the main melody added throughout, and a more interpretive bridge section. Definitely a closer call, but this is well beyond a performed midi rip + drums."

What he said; the energy's there, and I think those looking for a Final Fantasy rock fix will definitely enjoy, but there's room for a bit more polish & taking a few more risks in the arrangement arena. Excellent source material and a promising debut from Luhny; looking forward to whatever's next!

djpretzel

Discussion

Latest 15 comments/reviews; view the complete thread or post your own.
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Crulex
on 2012-08-28 09:55:07

Lots of energy and the guitar comes in with some force, but not a whole hell of a lot of it. To me, it does have a great sound to it, and it's definitely nice to listen to, but besides the soloing, I think there could have been just a little more here. Still, for a debut, it's not that bad at all, so nice job.

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Snow Taradien
on 2012-04-26 22:52:03

Needs to be spread further. Its nearly Monaural.

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Darangen
on 2011-02-08 14:43:11

Glad to see Luhny have his OCR Debut!

I've heard several versions of this and he's definitely come a long way from where he started. Major prop's man!

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42
on 2010-12-13 22:42:01

Am I the only one that thinks that this is too narrow stereo-wise? That probably might just be me, but this feels really old school and rocking.

Definitely a lot of good energy in this one, and I am left wanting to hear more. :-)

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Moguta
on 2010-12-11 00:03:52

This track is on my Android, so either I'm a masochist or a fan. Or both?!?

Seriously now, this track contains some pretty drivin' energy. I like its raw rawk. The only issues I have are production - mostly the drums sound like they need to be a little sharper or punchier - and I think the volume intensity could use a little variation. Make the guitars REALLY scream in the finale or something.

Overall, solid work. Drum patterns and music varied enough to keep interest, and your production has definitely improved since 2004! (Searching for this song, I found the old VGMix you mention in your submission writeup.) Keep it up! :-)

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EmpyClaw
on 2010-12-06 22:20:26

I didn't know about this remix until I looked at the reviews board. I figured I'd give it a listen, since the title was awesome. The mix lived up to my expectations (which I don't think means much, since I didn't have any, but it lives up to the title). I love how the guitar and drums work together in the piece. I also like how the piece moves around; it feels like the sort of rock piece that can grow stagnant, but it keeps changing up while returning to the key moments. Very cool.

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DragonAvenger
on 2010-12-06 20:55:25

Love the energy of this track. Although the arrangement is conservative, it lends itself well to the rock genre, and I think you pulled it off pretty well here. Still hoping we see more from you in the queue!

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Martin Penwald
on 2010-06-10 14:28:25

The mix doesn't feel particularly repetitive to me, probably because it's under 3 minutes and doesn't overstay its welcome. The solo is pretty darn good, too.

I have to agree with some of the criticism directed at the production, though. It really holds back the remix; everything feels rather cramped, and the volume isn't that peachy, either.

Nonetheless, nice first effort, and I'm looking forward to more from you.

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Level 99
on 2010-06-01 08:46:06

I'm not the most familiar with the source tune, but this has guitars. And I like guitars. That's probably a big surprise right there.

First thing I noticed is that you definitely nailed the mixing between the guitars, bass, and drums. Guitar tone is very nice, and only during a part or two of the solo did I notice any tuning issues, and they were extremely minor.

Drums could have a had a bit more flair to them, though they're definitely adequate. Try to use the toms a bit more, especially during some transition fills, and the song won't feel as repetitive.

And that's my only big issue with the song: repetition. It's definitely good, but follows the wash-rinse-repeat without much change, either evident or subtle, until the solo comes in. Seems like it's on cruise control, with the attitude of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". The result is a song that's great on first listen, but isn't very repeatable.

I still enjoyed it, and the guitar performance was very good. Nice first mixpost and I look forward to hearing how and where you improve for the next one.

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luhny
on 2010-06-01 07:21:09

Thanks alot to everyone for your comments.

I will try my best to sieze on all the kind words, suggestions and constructive critism for future projects.

Take care.

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Bahamut
on 2010-05-31 02:57:29

Whoa, where did this come from?

I remember hearing the original before, and man, this sounds quite different yet still awesome in its own right.

Production seems kinda rough, but otherwise love what has been done - keep working at it!

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Mockingbird
on 2010-05-27 18:01:54

It's a good first effort, but it's just a tad too repetitive and the production just sounds too flat for my tastes. I definitely will look for more of this remixers stuff in the future, however!

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Alexis
on 2010-05-27 14:46:27

I love this. Reminds me a lot of the Black Mages. Nicely done.

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OA
on 2010-05-27 14:27:43

An excellent rock track, with some great harmonies, and I love that solo. I hope you do a lot more mixing, Luhny! :-)

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Master_Yoshi
on 2010-05-27 14:20:20

Aside from your solo, the entire track sounds samey from beginning to end. That might come with the territory, but it doesn't change the fact that I got a little bored with it.

Also, the sound design really does bother me. Everything feels clumped together, I wish there was some breathing space. It's fine to want to melt faces, but some of the playing could have dealt with being a bit more exposed, like the solo. I wish I could have had it a little bit more in the open, had it seem a bit more special other than just having it be louder and at a higher frequency.

Still, you managed to keep the energy up and there was nothing in particular that stood out as bad, so I enjoyed it well enough.

Sources Arranged (1 Song)


Primary Game:
Final Fantasy Legend II (Square , 1990, GB)
Music by Kenji Ito,Nobuo Uematsu
Songs:
"Burning Blood"

Tags (2)


Genre:
Rock
Mood:
Instrumentation:
Electric Guitar
Additional:

File Information


Name:
Final_Fantasy_Legend_2_Craving_for_Burning_Blood_OC_ReMix.mp3
Size:
4,307,159 bytes
MD5:
844317dcec8ce13e0d281b8b7da5ba89
Bitrate:
192Kbps
Duration:
2:56

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